In February 2026, users browsing a newly released batch of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein's federal case files shared a rumor about emails containing the word "jerky," normally defined as a nutrient-dense meat made lightweight through drying. They claimed people in Epstein's circle who sent emails mentioning jerky used the food term as a code word for the consumption of human meat. The emails were among the immense trove of documents made publicly available, with inconsistent redactions, by U.S. Justice Department on its website.
On Feb. 11, a Facebook user posted a video claiming, "They found a codeword in the Epstein files 'Jerky' which is believed to represent child meat." The Facebook video included part of a YouTube video in which the YouTube user read from emails attached to a since-deleted Reddit post (archived) on the r/conspiracy subreddit.
Snopes readers asked us about this rumor and inquired about Francis Derby, a chef whose name appeared in the Epstein files and who once worked for a New York restaurant named The Cannibal Beer & Butcher. Other users shared the rumor about Epstein, jerky and Derby on Facebook (archived), Reddit (archived), TikTok (archived) and X (archived).
In short, the rumor that mentions of jerky in the Epstein files secretly referenced human meat was false. Snopes found numerous points of evidence in the case files' emails between 2012 and 2019 — many presented below in this article — supporting the fact that Epstein eating jerky referenced beef jerky, as in meat from cows. For example, emails contained grocery shopping lists for Epstein with familiar items — beef jerky included — as well as mentions of buying grass-fed beef jerky, interest in turkey jerky, and purchasing steak for a chef, or other people, to make homemade beef jerky for Epstein.
We previously reported about the similar notion that the Epstein files proved something about the "pizzagate" conspiracy theory. Users alleged, without providing evidence, that the Epstein files contained coded mentions of "pizza" and other words that secretly referenced child sex trafficking. The rumor also involved QAnon, another conspiracy theory alleging a global cabal kidnaps and tortures children before using their blood in satanic rituals.
Epstein's history of eating jerky
On May 18, 2012, Derby's name appeared in an Epstein files email for the first time, the same month he said Epstein hired him as his chef, in which he emailed another person a to-do list.
In the email, Derby sent the first draft of a training manual, as well as planned to establish a Costco account, find a butcher, buy uniforms, purchase plates and order Australian winter truffles. The email specifically mentioned the foods flax seed granola, sorbets and ice cream, and either making or buying grass-fed beef jerky and turkey jerky (misspelled "jerkey"):
JE is interested in beef and turkey jerkeys- I know one company out of Brooklyn that does a great grass-fed product, its like high end jerky, great stuff. I plan on having that here when he arrives as well as some i will be making. Again we can purchase it, but to make our own is much nicer because we can make it taste however he would like. Smokey or sweet or even have some asian notes to it...
In an Aug. 18 email, long-time Epstein assistant Lesley Groff wrote of Epstein "dieting" and eating "mostly straight protein."
Groff added in the email that Epstein was "eating a good amount" of beef jerky throughout each day, saying, "We have gone through about 70 pounds of Steak for beef jerky in the last 2 weeks…no joke." According to USDA.gov, a pound of meat weighs about four ounces after being made into jerky. With that math, 70 pounds of meat would produce around 17 pounds of jerky.
Days later, an email chain showed Derby providing jerky to Karyna Shuliak, Epstein's girlfriend, so she could transport the jerky during her travel to Epstein's Caribbean island, Little St. James.
According to one email from September 2012, Epstein asked his staff to have a sample of Derby's homemade beef jerky tested for nutritional value. An August email similarly mentioned a man sending a sample to a lab, as well as a mishap involving the man's dog breaking into his suitcase to eat the jerky sample.
On Oct. 3, Derby emailed Epstein "was gonna start eating regular food again so he might be eating less jerky." This message referenced Epstein potentially considering taking a step back from his "mostly straight protein" diet Groff previously mentioned. Even so, an Oct. 19 email featured Epstein frustrated at Derby for being out of jerky, with Epstein adding, "I am not sure how this is possible I only eat one thng. there is none here."
Derby quits, further jerky emails
According to an Epstein-written email, Derby quit his chef job on Nov. 19, the day after an email mentioned Derby's engagement party. Epstein wrote to another person to notify them of Derby's departure, including partially casting blame on Derby being more focused on his engagement than his employment.
On the following day, Derby emailed offering to teach how to make his jerky, writing, "I will come to teach a jerky class and we can also cover chocolate cream pie if you can agree to pay me through this pay period."
With Derby no longer employed by Epstein, on Dec. 12, an email sender only shown in a partially redacted message as "LSJ," for Little St. James, asked for a shopping list to prepare for Epstein's arrival. The sender wrote, "Still have not been told what he is eating - jerky - if he is still doing steak, casserole etc." Days later, the same account traded emails including a recipe to make two pounds of jerky.
Another email named a married couple who managed the "LSJ" email account at the time. The couple both worked under the title of island manager.
A Jan. 10, 2013, email referenced a person with a redacted name saying he or she purchased grass-fed beef jerky for Epstein, just days before his Jan. 20 birthday. Two weeks later, one of the Little St. James island managers sent a shopping list of fruits, herbs, bread, meat, fish, coffee and a mention of meat steaks and jerky — once again confirming mentions of jerky meant actual beef jerky.
Months later, on May 4, an email described Derby — at the time working at The Cannibal Beer & Butcher — as scheduled to teach Shuliak and others how to make jerky at Epstein's Manhattan residence. In previous months, people included in emails said Epstein expressed dissatisfaction with jerky made by people other than Derby.
Derby told Snopes that was the last time he worked for Epstein:
I was asked to demonstrate how I prepared beef jerky and was compensated for my time and instruction, consistent with a consulting engagement. I was not rehired or placed back on payroll at that time. It was a single, limited engagement.
After that session, there was no further employment of any kind.
Further mentions of Epstein eating jerky appeared in emails from 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2019. Officials said Epstein killed himself in his New York jail cell on Aug. 10, 2019. A medical examiner's report ruled Epstein's death a suicide by hanging.
A photo (EFTA01187754.pdf) officials appeared to have posted and then removed from the Justice Department website showed a piece of jerky and a plastic bag, with no further context.
The Cannibal Beer & Butcher restaurant
The Cannibal Beer & Butcher restaurant received favorable reviews from New York magazine and the I Just Want to Eat blog, and closed in 2019.
An archived version of the restaurant's website from 2013 named Derby as executive chef. The website explained the restaurant's name as coming "from the Belgian Grand Tour Cyclist Eddy Merckx, who throughout the 60s and 70s was known simply as 'The Cannibal'" — not from the serving of human meat, as some users claimed.
X user Mario Nawfal — who had more than 3 million followers and whose bio in past years promised to promote only "verified" content (but no longer does) — shared a post (archived) feeding into the conspiracy theory about Derby and jerky, claiming The Cannibal was a "tiny, ultra-exclusive spot" and a "very small, hard to access restaurant." Nawfal mentioned the Epstein files and jerky, and added, "Subtle marketing was clearly not on the menu."
(@MarioNawfal/X)
We asked Derby about Nawfal's claims, including whether he could confirm The Cannibal was nothing more than a standard restaurant. In response, he said Nawfal did not share accurate information:
The Cannibal was not an exclusive or hard-to-access establishment. It was a publicly operating, bustling restaurant, beer hall, and butcher shop open to general customers during regular business hours. It was open for both lunch and dinner, seven days a week. I began working there nearly a year after it opened. I was not an owner. In addition to the original location, there was also a Cannibal outpost in Gotham West Market and another in Los Angeles. All were standard, publicly accessible restaurant concepts.
Nawfal did not respond to X messages from Snopes asking whether he credibly researched the matter before posting about it, as well as inquiring for his evidence of jerky not meaning actual beef jerky.
Derby's full statement
Derby, referencing the email about Epstein intending to eat regular food again and not so much beef jerky, provided the following emailed statement to Snopes:
To clarify: the term "jerky" in that exchange referred to beef jerky made from dry-aged New York strip steak. I developed and prepared food items, including jerky, as part of my work as a chef. There was no coded meaning attached to the word. Any suggestion otherwise is incorrect.
Regarding the context of the email exchange, at that time I was working in a culinary capacity and was asked to prepare specific foods based on dietary preferences. References to jerky versus other foods were simply discussions about what was being eaten at the time. There was no deeper significance.
In terms of employment: I was hired in May 2012 to work as a chef. My responsibilities involved food preparation and menu development. I did not have involvement in any personal, financial, or legal matters. I stopped working in that role November 2012, at which point I moved on to other professional opportunities.
For further reading, we previously reported about other Epstein files rumors involving the online shopping website Wayfair and the video game Fortnite.