A new innovative product, stewsticks, made with beef, pork, spices, and dehydrated vegetables, was developed as a nutritious snack. Lactic or citric acid was added at pH 5.2 or 4.6 to both meatsticks and stewsticks. Meatsticks and stewsticks were prepared by mixing ingredients until a cohesive mass was obtained. This mixture was then extruded into sticks that were cooked to about 50% of original weight. Sticks were then cut to desired length, packaged, and stored. Then meatsticks (beef, pork, and spices) were compared to stewsticks for appearance, texture, flavor, and overall acceptability. The stewsticks had excellent shelf life due to combined hurdles of pH 5.2, water activity of 0.95 or less, salt, and vacuum packaging. Compared to meatsticks, one serving (2 ounces) of stewsticks had less fat (9 vs 11 g respectively), less cholesterol (75 vs 90 mg) and more dietary fiber (4 vs 2 g), carbohydrates (20 vs 4 g), vitamin A (11 vs 2% RDA), and vitamin c {32 vs 1% RDA). The type of acid did not affect panel preference, but the samples at pH 5.2 were preferred over samples at pH 4.6. overall, meatsticks were preferred by the consumer panel over stewsticks although there were 25% of them who rated stewsticks as moderately acceptable or higher.