Frequently Asked Questions

Not quite - while the fine selection of spices we use in our recipes are 100% plant-based, the beef jerky itself is in fact made out of beef which many do not consider to be vegan.

No!

While the name may cause some confusion, Gymrat Jerky is named the way it is because it's made for gymrats:

gym·rat (noun)

Someone who spends a lot of time exercising in the gym, and who cares very much about the shape and condition of their body

"damn that gymrat is so jacked and tanned. I wish I looked like him! I wonder what type of jerky he eats..."

We can safely say the percentage of rats in our product is 0%.

Good question: while the beef we use varies in production methods, all cows that go towards making our Gymrat Jerky began their lives on Australian pastures munching away on grass.

However, not all of our cows made it up to Cow-Heaven living this way.

In Australia, roughly two-thirds of all cattle are classified as grass-fed. At some point in their lives however, many cows transition to a grain-based diet for finishing. After 85-90% of their lives eating grass, a cow will transition to a grain-based diet. This diet mainly consists of barley, wheat and sorghum. This "finishing diet" is consumed for roughly the last 50-120 days before a cow is slaughtered.

The majority of the beef we use is finished in this way. While some of our beef comes from cows both grass-fed and grass-finished, we wouldn't feel right about guaranteeing this for every bite of jerky.

To source beef that is exclusively both grass-fed and finished would just not be feasible for us, as fluctuations in supply could lead to longer downtimes and higher prices.

This would pass on a higher cost to you, the customer, which we definitely don't want. But it's not like we're skimping on quality: Australian standards for both beef quality and animal welfare are extremely high. Plus, our jerky is still certifiably delicious and nutritious.

To start off with, all of our beef is sourced from Australian farms. 100%.

In order to produce pure high-protein snacks at scale, we work with a fantastic state-of-the-art, food-safe facility in Brisbane, Queensland.

Using our own original recipes and methods, we take muscular cuts of delicious Aussie beef and turn it into the Gymrat Jerky you know and love!

This process starts with slicing that juicy beef into thin, easy-to-eat pieces. Next, these pieces are doused in carefully-chosen herbs and spices and left to set.

After a while, this beef is slow-cooked through the process of dehydration. By removing most of the water and leaving behind only protein, vitamins and minerals, the beef (now jerky) has a much longer shelf life.

Once the jerky is finished, it's carefully packed and shipped off to your doorstep!

Yep, yep, and yep (probably)!

Gymrat Jerky is 100% gluten-free, so if you struggle with gluten, it'll go down easy.

A ketogenic diet is generally one where you consume less than 50g of carbs a day. While some jerkies can be much higher in carbs, you'd need to smash down about 2kg of Gymrat Jerky to hit this limit. So yes, it is absolutely keto-friendly. In fact, if you find yourself missing the mouth-pleasure of carbohydrate-heavy snacks like potato chips, Gymrat Jerky is a great substitue!

As for carnivore, it depends how strict you want to be. Sure, there's a small amount of spices in with the jerky (as well as salt and pepper), but the product is still massively meat-heavy. And we don't include any concerning additives you may find in other jerkies, such as sugar, soy and seed oils. If you're ok with a little bit of spices, Gymrat Jerky might be the meat snack you were looking for.

The name "Mithras Nutrition" may confuse some people.

I (the founder) have always been obsessed with ancient history and mythology. I particularly liked the mystery of Mithras.

The cult of Mithras was a shadowy religion that came and went between the 1st and 4th century AD. Practised by Roman soldiers on the outskirts of the empire, men gathered in secret Mithraic temples from Britian to Syria to revere the figure known as Mithras.

No ancient source tells us the exact mythology of Mithras, but from descriptions on monuments, we can tell it went something like this: Mithras was known for hunting and slaying a bull. He then meets the sun, who bows to him, and they dine on the bull together (see here for more info).

The depiction of bull-slaying is what appears in the Mithras Nutrition logo, and I thought it was perfect for a brand like this one. Along with the obvious fact that our main product is, well, beef; Mithras Nutrition is all about taking life by the horns. You take from the world, and give back something even greater.