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A woman in a bright supermarket aisle turning a protein bar over to read the ingredient label on the back, glass storefront windows behind her
The Back-of-Pack Test

The “HIGH PROTEIN” on the front of your bar isn’t a lie. It’s a warning.

Justin Babet, Co-Founder of Chief Nutrition
By Justin Babet
Co-Founder, Chief Nutrition · June 2026

I make protein snacks for a living, and I’d bet the bar in your bag was built backwards - from the number, not from food. One word on the back settles it. Almost nobody reads it. Here’s the 30-second test - and fair warning: I want you running it on mine.

You picked that bar because of the number... 10g, 15g, 20g... whatever it says. And that number sounds impressive.

But, here’s what nobody tells you. That number is designed to park your eyes on the front of the pack so you never read the rest.

Because if you flip most bars over, the ingredient list looks a lot less like food than the front suggested. 

Sugar alcohols. Artificial sweeteners. Seed oils. All of it sitting behind a big protein number.

Sugar alcohols are one of the most common ways brands keep the sugar number low. 

Artificial sweeteners do a similar job. 

The claim is technically true. But the front and the back are telling different stories.

So, there’s one part of every pack that can’t be dressed up: by law, ingredients are listed by weight, biggest first - so the first few ingredients are very important. Grab your favourite bar and read that first word.

Turn it over.
What are the first few ingredients?

There’s a moment when you first flip a protein bar over and actually read the back. 

Once you do it, you can’t stop.

The people who flip them over have figured something out. 

The protein number, the low sugar claim, the “natural flavour” badge. 

None of that tells you the full story.

The actual information is on the back. In the ingredients.

And when you read the ingredients on most protein bars, a pattern starts to emerge. 

Sugar alcohols to replace the sugar. 

Artificial sweeteners to add sweetness. 

Seed oils for texture. 

A few gums and emulsifiers to hold it together.

The front looks great. 

The ingredient list is a different conversation.

Most people don’t flip the pack. So the front is where most of the effort goes. 

A strong protein number and a low sugar claim is usually enough to make the sale. 

The back is where the formula lives.

The Back-of-Pack Test

Here's what to look for

A woman's hands turning a protein bar over to read the ingredients panel on the back, in a warm home kitchen
1

Read the ingredients out loud

Actually say them. Real food reads like a short list of things you’d keep in your own kitchen. If saying the label out loud sounds like you’re reading a chemistry exam, you have your answer. A snack made of food has a list you can finish in one breath.

2

Hunt the disguise words

These are the tells of a bar built backwards - from a protein number, not from food. A powder up top, then the seed oils, sugar alcohols and syrups that make that powder taste like a treat (the sweeteners behind that quiet “may have a laxative effect” line). None of these are food. They’re ultra processed junk.

Seed oilsMaltitolSorbitolErythritolMaltodextrinMSG
3

Read the very first ingredient

This is the one that does the most work: ingredients are listed in order of weight, the biggest first. So the first word tells you what the snack actually, mostly is. Is it a food - beef, cashews, real stuff? Or a powder, a sugar, a syrup? The front of the pack can say whatever it likes. The first ingredient can’t lie.

That’s the whole test. Read it out, hunt the disguises, check what comes first.

Now run it on us.

In our Best Sellers Starter Pack, you’ve got 3 options to test. Flip every single one over before you eat a bite.

Chief Beef Brisket Bar nutrition panel and ingredients - first ingredient organic grass-fed beef (80%)
Chief Beef Brisket Bar
  1. 1
    Read it out loud

    Organic, grass-fed Aussie beef, amaranth flour, a few dried currants, coconut aminos, vinegar, salt, spices, and a little lactic acid. All things you’d keep in your own kitchen.

  2. 2
    Hunt the disguise words

    No seed oils. No added hormones, no antibiotics. Nothing in here is wearing a costume - there’s simply nothing to find.

  3. 3
    Read the first word: BEEF

    We start each bar with around 80 grams of beef brisket and slow-dry it - gently pulling the water out - until it’s a tender 40-gram bar. That’s roughly 18 grams of real food protein in your hand - the same protein as three large eggs... PLUS the iron, B12 and the run of vitamins and minerals that come along when protein arrives as beef instead of powder.

Now you take the other two. Same story as the brisket - real food up top, no junk.

Traditional Biltong BEEF

Air-dried Aussie steak, 93% beef - and the added sugar most servo jerky hides? None. Just a natural trace from the spices, not a bag of sugar.

Collagen Protein Bar NUTS

A bar that tastes like dessert, and the very first thing on the label is a real nut - cashews, hazelnuts or peanuts, not a powder.

Across the whole range: no seed oils, no sugar alcohols, no artificial preservatives, no MSG. Gluten free. Dairy free. Run the test on every one of them.

No seed oilsNo sugar alcoholsNo artificial preservativesNo MSGGluten freeDairy free

Run the test on us yourself

Grab a Best Sellers Starter Pack →

“Are you sure they’re good for me?”

Great question, and honestly, it’s the best compliment you can give us. Because what's the point of a healthy product if it doesn't taste good? No one will eat it.

"Chief products give me the proteins, nutrients, and energy that I need - while saving me time! I love that their products are made from real food, and the added bonus is that they taste delicious."
- Jessica T. (dietitian)
"I loved everything in the starter pack. Best bars by far!! Love that everything is backed by science and clean ingredients. "
- Grace W. (verified buyer)

I understand why it’s hard to believe - we’ve all been trained to assume “tastes amazing” and “clean ingredients” can’t live in the same bar. That’s the lie the shelf taught you. So don’t believe me. Believe the back of the pack.

And you don’t have to take my word for it. We've had countless dietitians and nutritionists review what we make - we have some of the only packaged products they actually eat and recommend.

4.8★
across 1,743 reviews
94%
would recommend it
>10M
bars sold to Pack Flippers
3
vetted by dietitians & nutritionists

On the shelves at Woolworths and Coles.

Find your personal favourites

Here’s the funny thing that happens almost every time someone runs the test on a full Starter Pack. They walk in certain of what they’ll like - and walk out surprised.

"Got this pack to try the biltong. Love the beef bars and wanted to try some different flavoured collagen bars. Enjoyed them all!"
- Hilary M. (verified buyer)

Which is exactly why we created our best sellers pack. You think you already know which one is “for you.” The pack’s whole job is to prove you wrong in the best possible way.

A woman at home in a bright kitchen happily taking a bite of a Chief Collagen Protein bar

The offer is built so the test costs you nothing

You get the Best Sellers Starter Pack - 10 snacks: 3 beef brisket bars, 3 biltong, and 4 collagen bars. One of each of our best selling snacks, enough to run the test properly and find your favourites.

The Chief Best Sellers Starter Pack box filled with beef brisket bars, biltong and collagen protein bars
Single Pack
10 snacks · $5 a snack · save $15
$49.95
Most popular
Double Pack
20 snacks · $4.45 a snack · save $42
$89
Family Pack
30 snacks · $4.30 a snack · save $67 · free shipping
$129

Free shipping on orders over $99. Afterpay available if you’d rather split it.

Love it, or get your money back.

Run the Back-of-Pack Test on every snack we send you. If the first ingredient isn’t the real food we told you it’d be, or it just doesn’t taste like something you’d choose - you don’t pay. The risk of testing us is zero. The only thing on the line is ours.

Flip the pack. Taste the pack. Decide for yourself.

I started by calling the big number on the front of the pack. Now turn ours over and do the same. Read the first word out loud, then put one in your mouth and find out whether “clean” and “bloody delicious” can finally be the same snack.

Grab a Best Sellers Starter Pack and run the test on us →
Justin Babet, Co-Founder of Chief Nutrition
Justin Babet
Co-Founder, Chief Nutrition
Made for people who give a damn.