Though this is an older post, I wanted to add my two cents. I've considered myself a health conscious person. I've only left my property twice in the last three months, once to turn in my income tax and once to cash the stimulus check. Covid-19 conscious, no one can come into my house. Just last week I ate a piece of my homemade jerky dated 7-4-2019 (10 months old) and didn't get sick.. Today, I went to the CDC website to read about jerky safety and discovered that in fact, they recommend precooking it to at least 165 degrees before dehydrating and that it only should have a two month shelf life. Oops, now I'll try precooking it and eating it faster.