Old Trapper Old Fashioned Beef Jerky: Labelgrade B- (70/100), 11g Protein

The short answer

Old Trapper Old Fashioned Beef Jerky delivers 11g of protein for 70 calories per 1 oz (28g) serving — a genuinely protein-dense, real-beef snack at 39.3g of protein per 100g. It earns a Labelgrade B- (70/100): top marks for protein density and zero saturated fat, dragged down by the thing every jerky shares — a heavy sodium load (600mg per ounce), plus a touch of added sugar from the brown-sugar marinade.

Why the B-

The grade tells an honest story: the protein and leanness are excellent, but two ingredient choices — added sugar and a big salt dose — keep it out of A territory.

The protein is real, and it’s dense

The number that earns the A+ is 39.3g of protein per 100g — higher than cooked chicken breast (~31g). That’s not magic; it’s water. Jerky starts as lean beef and loses most of its moisture to dehydration, so what’s left is concentrated protein. Per ounce you get 11g for 70 calories, which is about 6.4 calories per gram of protein — lean by any standard, helped by the 0g of saturated fat on the label. As a shelf-stable, no-refrigeration way to carry 11g of complete animal protein in your bag, it does exactly what jerky is supposed to do.

A 4 oz bag is four servings, so roughly 44g of protein per bag — but that’s also four doses of the sodium below, which is the part worth pacing.

The “Old Fashioned” trade-offs: sugar and salt

Two things define this flavor, and both show up on the label.

• Brown sugar is the #2 ingredient — listed right after beef, ahead of water and salt. That’s the signature of an “Old Fashioned” original marinade: a sweet-savory glaze rather than a peppery or teriyaki profile. It contributes the 5g of sugar per serving. It’s modest, but it’s genuinely added sugar, not something naturally in the beef, which is why the sugar dimension lands at B+ rather than perfect.
• Sodium is the real ceiling. At 600mg per ounce, a single 28g piece is about a quarter of a day’s sodium. This isn’t an Old Trapper problem — salt is both the flavor and the preservative that makes jerky shelf-stable, so the entire category runs high. It’s simply the cost of the format, and it’s why this dimension scores a hard F.

If those two ingredients are dealbreakers, the cleaner cousin is biltong: air-dried cured beef that’s typically made with no sugar and often lower sodium, trading some convenience and shelf presence for a shorter ingredient list. For most people grabbing a protein snack off the shelf, though, Old Trapper’s sugar-and-salt balance is the trade they’re already used to.

Where it fits

Old Trapper Old Fashioned is the classic, widely-stocked, value-priced jerky — the bag you find at the gas station and the grocery checkout alike. As an affordable, real-beef, high-protein snack, it does the job well: 11g of protein, no saturated fat, and a flavor people reach for. It’s a smart occasional pick for hiking, road trips, or a desk drawer. The shopper who should think twice is anyone watching sodium closely or avoiding added sugar — they’re better served by an unsweetened jerky or biltong.

Ingredients

Beef, brown sugar, water, salt, beef stock, hydrolyzed corn protein, vinegar, flavorings, sodium nitrite. (Verbatim from the USDA Branded Foods entry, FDC 2401661.) Beef leads the list, but the brown sugar in second position and the sodium nitrite cure are the two lines that shape both the flavor and the grade.

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Scope: This page applies specifically to Old Fashioned Beef Jerky, Old Fashioned (4 oz/113.2 g) · UPC 079694221053. Other sizes, flavors, or formulations may differ.