We start with whole briskets. We trim the excess fat, then grind the brisket ourselves. Yes, we know — grinding brisket might be a sin in Texas. But it makes one heck of a meat stick!

From there, we add our seasonings and a starter culture and let the meat naturally ferment for 10–14 hours. Think of it a little like making sourdough bread: fermentation is an important part of what gives the finished product its distinctive flavor and helps create a naturally shelf-stable meat snack.

After fermentation, the sticks go through our smoke and cooking process. We bring them to 155°F and hold them there for 90 seconds to achieve the required lethality step, then finish the process.

The result? A flavorful, fermented, smoked meat stick that's shelf-stable for up to a year — without refrigeration until opened.

And now you can get them in two sizes: our 3 oz sticks and our newer 1 oz sticks, perfect for grabbing a little protein on the go.

Right here at home. Unlike many large meat-snack brands that outsource production to third-party manufacturers, Primal Eats Meat Sticks are 100% made in-house by our own team, right here in the USA.

Our sticks are made on the same grounds as our award-winning barbecue restaurant, where our team has spent years perfecting the art of smoking and preparing great meat. We're also a highly regulated food production facility, so we hold ourselves to rigorous standards at every step of the process.

In fact, Primal Eats started with barbecue. We fell in love with brisket, smoke, and the craft of great barbecue—and eventually asked ourselves: What if we could take that same passion for great meat and make it something you could take with you?

That's how our meat sticks were born.

So when you grab a Primal Eats stick, you're not just grabbing another mass-produced meat snack. It's our take on barbecue, made by our own team, in our own facility, from the same love of great meat that started it all.

Think of it as a little piece of barbecue you can take with you anywhere.ur content here

You shouldn't have to choose between a great-tasting meat stick and ingredients you feel good about eating.

That's why we leave out many of the ingredients and shortcuts you'll find in conventional meat snacks. Across our line, you'll never find:

🚫 Mechanically separated meat or by-product
🚫 Meat scraps or trim — never filler, just muscle-cut beef brisket
🚫 Soy, wheat, or gluten
🚫 No added synthetic nitrites or nitrates
🚫 Seed oils like canola, soybean, or sunflower oil
🚫 Artificial sweeteners
🚫 BHA or BHT
🚫 High fructose corn syrup
🚫 Encapsulated citric acid
🚫 Synthetic casings (ours are always beef collagen)

Want our simplest ingredient lists?

Our Original and Jalapeño sticks take it a step further. They're made with 100% grass-fed-for-life, non-GMO, antibiotic-free angus beef. And contain no corn syrup of any kind, no MSG, and no added sugar.

All are preserved using celery and cherry powders and fermented with a starter culture.

We've also recently switched to organic dextrose, which is used to support the fermentation process — not as a sweetener.

We use a natural fermentation process — the same one that gives you yogurt, sourdough, and traditional salami. Good bacteria break down sugars and gently lower the pH, making our sticks shelf-stable while developing that signature tangy depth of flavor. We also cure with celery juice powder and cherry juice powder (nature's nitrites) on most of our lineup, and we wood-smoke low and slow, which adds another layer of natural preservation.

It's how meat has been safely preserved for thousands of years — long before there were chemicals with names you can't pronounce. Cleaner, more traditional, and better tasting. No harsh preservatives needed.

Each stick stays flavorful and shelf stable for about a year thanks to our natural fermentation and wood-smoking process. Once opened (or if you prefer a firmer texture), pop them in the fridge. Easy, portable, and ready whenever hunger hits.

We do recommend refrigerating the Ends & Pieces after opening.

We believe in sourcing meat from producers who share our standards, wherever they are in the world.

Most of our beef, our pork used in Pepperoni, and our other ingredients are sourced in the USA.

For our 100% grass-fed-for-life line, we source beef from Australia, a region known for its ideal conditions for raising cattle entirely on pasture. We made this choice after seeing the land and cattle with our own eyes, and because we're committed to sourcing beef that meets our standards for how the animals are raised — not simply because it's the closest, cheapest, or easiest option.

While some of our beef is imported, every Primal Eats stick is crafted, packaged, and shipped in the USA, supporting American jobs and businesses every step of the way.

For us, it's not about where a cow happens to be raised. It's about finding producers who share our commitment to quality and raising animals the right way.

Only those naturally occurring in celery and sea salt.

We don't use synthetic sodium nitrite or "pink curing salt" in our sticks. Instead, we cure with celery juice powder and cherry juice powder, which contain naturally occurring nitrates from plants. They do the same preservation work, keeping the meat safe and stable, but from a vegetable source instead of a lab.

Celery itself is a genuinely nutrient-dense vegetable. Beyond the naturally occurring nitrates (which your body converts into nitric oxide to support healthy blood flow), it delivers vitamin K, potassium, folate, and plant antioxidants linked to anti-inflammatory and heart-health benefits. Real food doing real work — not a synthetic chemical doing the job for it.

We use a very small amount of organic dextrose during the fermentation process — not as a sweetener, but to help get fermentation started.

During fermentation, naturally occurring beneficial bacteria use the dextrose as a food source. The fermentation process consumes the available dextrose, which means it is not added to make our beef sticks taste sweet.

It serves an important purpose in the traditional fermentation process that gives our beef sticks their characteristic flavor and helps create the finished product.

Primal Eats is 100% family-owned and operated. We're a small, multigenerational family business based right here in Wisconsin—and we're proud to keep it that way.

The Follett family has generations of experience in the food industry, and Primal Eats grew out of that family tradition. What started with our love of great food and barbecue has evolved into our mission to perfect the art of making incredible meat sticks that you can enjoy anywhere.

We're not owned by a large conglomerate or tucked under a massive corporate umbrella. We're a family business, run by people who genuinely care about the food we're making and the people we're making it for.

From sourcing the meat to making the sticks, we're involved every step of the way. And when you choose Primal Eats, you're supporting a family-owned Wisconsin business and the people behind it.

We're proud of where we came from, proud of what we're building, and proud to put the Follett name behind every stick.

Classic, savory, and easygoing. Our Original is our mildest meat stick and a great place to start if you're new to Primal Eats.

Made with 100% grass-fed-for-life, antibiotic-free, non-GMO, farm-certified Angus beef, the Original has 19 grams of protein and a classic combination of garlic, black pepper, and savory beef flavor. It's juicy, tender, and flavorful without being spicy or overpowering.

No added sugar, no MSG, and gluten-free. It's the kind of flavor that pretty much everyone can get behind, which is why it's one of our fan favorites.

Not sure which flavor to try first? Start here. The Original is our most mild and approachable stick, with plenty of flavor without the heat.

INGREDIENTS:

Grass Fed Beef Brisket, Water, Salt, Minced Garlic, Organic Dextrose, Minced Onion, Spice, Celery Powder, Cherry Powder, Sea Salt, Starter Culture. Packed in Collagen Casings.

And a few things worth knowing: The dextrose listed in the ingredients is not added as a sweetener. It's used in a small amount to kick-start the fermentation process. Our curing process uses celery powder as a source of naturally occurring nitrates rather than adding synthetic nitrates or nitrites.

Classic beef flavor with a real jalapeño kick. Our Jalapeño has the same great foundation as our Original — 100% grass-fed-for-life Angus beef, no sugar, no MSG, and 19 grams of protein — but with a whole lot more personality.

We use real jalapeños that we dry ourselves in-house, so when we say Jalapeño, we mean it. You can actually see the pieces of jalapeño in the stick, and you get the authentic flavor of the pepper in every bite. It's real peppers, not an artificial heat.

This is our hottest stick, so if you're looking to kick things up a notch, this is the one for you. The heat is noticeable, but it's balanced by the savory beef, making it a great choice for anyone who wants a little — or a lot — more kick in their meat stick.

INGREDIENTS:

Grass Fed Beef Brisket, Water, Salt, Dried Jalapenos, Spices, Organic Dextrose, Natural Flavors, Celery Powder, Cherry Powder, Sea Salt, Starter Culture. Packed in Collagen Casings.

And a few things worth knowing: The dextrose listed in the ingredients is not added as a sweetener. It's used in a small amount to kick-start the fermentation process. Our curing process uses celery powder as a source of naturally occurring nitrates rather than adding synthetic nitrates or nitrites.

Sweet, smoky, savory. Our BBQ with Pepper Jack is one of those flavors that surprises people — in the best way. It's a unique combination you don't see in every meat stick, but somehow it just works.

We combine savory beef with our signature barbecue seasoning, the same seasoning we use on the award-winning barbecue served at our restaurant. Then we add real Wisconsin Pepper Jack cheese for a creamy, cheesy flavor with an occasional little kick.

Don't let the peppery cheese fool you — this one isn't particularly spicy. The pepper flavor gives it just enough bite to balance the sweetness and smokiness of the barbecue.

It's also a bit sweeter than our other sticks, making this a great choice if you like that classic sweet-and-smoky barbecue flavor.

Not sure what to expect? Give it a try. BBQ with Pepper Jack has become a surprising favorite for a lot of people who didn't think it would be their thing and then can't stop eating it.

INGREDIENTS:

Beef Brisket, Pasteurized Processed Hot Pepper Jack Cheese (Cultured Milk, Water, Skim Milk, Whey, Jalapeno Peppers, Red Bell Peppers, Cream, Sodium Phosphates, Salt, Sorbic Acid, Natural Flavor, Enzymes, Natamycin), BBQ Seasoning Blend (Sugar, Salt, Spices, Natural Hickory Smoke Flavor, Natural Flavors, Torula Yeast, Molasses Powder), Water, Potato Starch, Organic Dextrose, Celery Powder, Cherry Powder, Sea Salt, Starter Culture. Packed in Collagen Casings. CONTAINS: Milk.

And a few things worth knowing: The dextrose listed in the ingredients is not added as a sweetener. It's used in a small amount to kick-start the fermentation process. Our curing process uses celery powder as a source of naturally occurring nitrates rather than adding synthetic nitrates or nitrites.

Deep, savory flavor with a slow-building pepper heat. Our 7-Pepper with Cheddar starts with the savory foundation of our signature seven-pepper blend and creamy Wisconsin cheddar.

And this isn't a cheap heat. We don't rely on one super-hot pepper to make you sweat. Our seven-pepper blend combines black pepper, chili pepper, red pepper, jalapeño, chipotle, habanero, and red bell pepper to create a much more complex flavor and a heat that builds as you eat.

It's not necessarily a unbearable kind of heat. Instead, you'll notice the pepper flavor first, followed by a lingering, almost numbing or tingling heat that develops toward the back of your palate a few seconds after that first bite. The creamy cheddar helps balance the peppers and gives the stick a cool, savory finish.

If you like deep flavor with a little kick, this one goes a long way. It's complex, satisfying, and definitely more adventurous than our Original.

INGREDIENTS:

Beef Brisket, Pasteurized Processed Cheddar Cheese ([cultured milk, salt, enzymes] water, cream, sodium phosphates, salt, beta carotene, potassium sorbate and/or natamycin), 7 Pepper Seasoning (Salt, Corn Syrup Solids, Spices, 7 Pepper Blend [Black Pepper, Chili Pepper, Red Pepper, Jalapeno, Chipotle, Habanero, Red Bell], Dextrose, Garlic),  Water, Potato Starch, Natural Flavors, Organic Dextrose, Celery Powder, Cherry Powder, Starter Culture. Packed in Collagen Casings. Contains: Milk

And a few things worth knowing: The dextrose listed in the ingredients is not added as a sweetener. It's used in a small amount to kick-start the fermentation process. Our curing process uses celery powder as a source of naturally occurring nitrates rather than adding synthetic nitrates or nitrites.

Like a pizza party in your pocket. Our Pepperoni with Mozzarella is savory, cheesy, and packed with classic pepperoni flavor.

This is the only Primal Eats stick that contains pork, and there's a good reason: this isn't a beef stick that's simply flavored to taste like pepperoni. We make it with a real beef brisket and pork pepperoni blend, then add real Wisconsin mozzarella cheese for that unmistakable pizza-inspired combination.

It's bold and savory without being overwhelmingly spicy, with the familiar flavors you'd expect from great pepperoni and mozzarella. It's also one of our most versatile sticks. We've seen people get creative with it — chopping it into mac and cheese, adding it to pizza, mixing it into pasta salad, and more.

And if you haven't tried it warmed up, you're missing out. A few seconds of heat brings out the savory pepperoni and melty-cheese flavors in a whole new way.

INGREDIENTS:

Beef Brisket, Pork, Pasteurized Processed Mozzarella Cheese (Low Moisture Part-Skim Mozzarella Cheese [Part-Skim Milk, Cultures, Salt Enzymes], Water, Cream, Sodium Phosphates, Salt, Lactic Acid, Sorbic Acid, Natamycin), Seasoning Blend (Salt, Spices, Corn Syrup Solids, Paprika, Monosodium Glutamate, Dehydrated Garlic), Pork Broth (Pork Stock, Water), Organic Dextrose, Celery Powder, Cherry Powder, Sea Salt, Starter Culture. Packed in Collagen Casings. CONTAINS: Milk.

And a few things worth knowing: The dextrose listed in the ingredients is not added as a sweetener. It's used in a small amount to kick-start the fermentation process. Our curing process uses celery powder as a source of naturally occurring nitrates rather than adding synthetic nitrates or nitrites.