What It Means to Be “Human Grade”

To be 100% human grade means that both the ingredients and processes involved in creating a product meet or exceed human food standards. We produce our snack strips in a locally-owned and locally-operated smokehouse in the heart of the Midwest, where farmers and producers from the area have been bringing their business for years. In addition to snack strips, our smokehouse makes all kinds of human food. There are neighbors and families at our facility every day purchasing meat for their families.

It’s important to recognize that some products may state that ingredients are human grade, but that does not mean that all ingredients or the processes and facilities used to make them are held to human standards. The smokehouse in which our products are made is USDA-inspected.

Each of our ingredients is also held to high standards and received with a Certificate of Analysis (COA). This means our ingredients match our desired specifications to ensure quality and consistency across every batch. We test strips from every batch and pull samples from several batches throughout the day to ensure that every Kitchen Table Strip is smoked to perfection.

Safety is another factor in being human grade, and to ensure quality and safety, we take strips from the start, middle and end of the packaging process to test for pH, water activity and microbiological and proximate analysis. We send these samples to our offices for visual inspection, retain samples at our smokehouse for future analysis and the rest go to an external lab to undergo the testing mentioned above in addition to salmonella and listeria. They also undergo investigatory testing for coliforms, mold and yeast.

Our strips are also made following Federal Good Manufacturing Practices for human food. Our smokehouse is registered with the FDA to produce, pack and hold human edible food, and our snack strips are made with quality and attention to detail by professional meat smokers, board-certified nutritionists and food scientists.