DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
Status of the Application
Receipt is acknowledged of the request for continued examination filed 10/31/2025. Claims 11-26 are pending in the application. Claims 11, 12,15,18, 25 and 26 were amended.
Continued Examination Under 37 CFR 1.114
A request for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, including the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e), was filed in this application after final rejection. Since this application is eligible for continued examination under 37 CFR 1.114, and the fee set forth in 37 CFR 1.17(e) has been timely paid, the finality of the previous Office action has been withdrawn pursuant to 37 CFR 1.114. Applicant's submission filed on 10/23/2025 has been entered.
Response to Arguments
Claim amendments render the previous rejections moot. However the amended claims present new grounds for rejection as detailed in the current Office action.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 11-17, 25 and 26 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Legarth (US20190216094A1) in view of Geistlinger et al. (US 2016/0073671 Al) cited in an IDS.
Regarding claims 11,12,14, 15 18 and 25, Legarth discloses providing a fermented plant material wherein the plant material is either from Brassicaceae or Fabaceae family (such as soy) ([0045]-[0050]) as an ingredient in a feed or food product with antifungal properties, that may be a meat product. In particular, Legarth discloses fermenting the material with a lactic acid bacterial strain which is expected to produce lactic acid in the fermented material as claimed . Regarding the ratio of lactic acid to acetic acid and lactic acid to ethanol in the claimed fermented material, one of ordinary skill in the art would have suitably selected a fermented material that has been subjected to a predominantly homofermentative process. To ensure a glucosinolate content in the claimed range one would appropriately select a plant material with a low content of glucosinolate.
Legarth does not specifically disclose a method to make a meat analog with the fermented material. However, use in food products and feed products that are meat analogs is implied in the use of the fermented plant material in a food product or feed product that is a meat produce as both a meat product and a meat analog contain protein fibers that can be texturized.
Geistlinger discloses ([0087]-[0090], claim 17) a process for producing a meat analog comprising protein fibers from algae that are substantially aligned, wherein the process comprises steps as claimed and preparation by extrusion, for example. Regarding the composition of the fermented material or the meat analog, one of ordinary skill in the art would have suitably selected a substrate, fermenting culture and additives to obtain a desired composition in a fermented plant material or a meat analog produced with the fermented plant material.
No unexpected results are provided to distinguish the method claimed from the art.
Regarding claim 13 and 26, applicant has not shown the criticality of the claimed particle size distribution and provided details of a first treatment step. No difference from the method in the art is discerned.
Regarding claim 16, Geistlinger does not specifically disclose a temperature limitation as claimed. However, at [0091] Geistlinger discloses that:
“Any physiochemical parameter or extruder configuration parameter may influence the appearance, texture, and
properties of the protein fibrous product. The physiochemical parameters include but are not limited to the formulation of
the dough (e.g., protein type and content, carbohydrate type and content, lipid type and content, water content, other
ingredients) and the cooking temperature. Configuration parameters include but are not limited to the extruder screw
and barrel configuration (and resulting screw-induced shear pressure), heating profile across the heating zones, and
dimensions of the cooling die. The physiochemical and configuration parameters are not mutually exclusive. Optimal
physiological and configuration parameters for the thermoplastic extrusion of the meat structured protein products provided
herein can be determined experimentally by titrating a particular parameter against the structure, sensory, and physical
chemical characteristics ( e.g., microscopic protein structure, sensory panel scores, MC, TPA profile) of the end products,
and identifying the setting of the parameter at which the meat structured protein products provided herein are obtained.”
It would have been obvious to have optimized a temperature to obtain desired characteristics in a fermented raw material or analog product prepared with the raw material, such as maintaining certain properties with a reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding claim 17, one of ordinary skill in the art would select a homofermentative culture to obtain lactic acid, based on the targeted properties of the analog product comprising fermented plant material, with a reasonable expectation of success.
Legarth in view of Geistlinger discloses steps comprising combining a fermented material, adjusting moisture content, producing a dough material that is a meat analog. One of ordinary skill in the art would have followed the steps in Geistlinger to produce a meat analog product as claimed with a reasonable expectation of success, based on the successfully produced analogs disclosed in therein.
Claims 18-24 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over “Smoked Meat Alternative with Pepper” (Mintel Nov. 2015) in view of Legarth and further in view of Geistlinger.
Regarding claims 18-23 Mintel discloses a product that is a meat substitute. The product comprises water, soy beans, green pepper (5%), soy sauce (water, soybeans, wheat, sea salt, koji ferment, lactobacillus bulgaricus ferment, rock salt, beechwood smoke), corresponding to a meat analog with a fermented material as claimed.
Regarding the claimed particle sizes in claim 22 applicant has not shown the criticality of the claimed particle size distribution for a fermented material.
Regarding claims 19-21, Mintel does not specifically disclose the content of lactic acid bacteria in the microbiotica of the meat analog. Legarth in view of Geistlinger however discloses a meat analog that contains lactic acid, wherein the fermented plant material used in its preparation is treated with lactic acid bacteria to produce lactic acid. . As both Mintel and modified Legarth are directed to meat analog products comprising fermented plant material, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to include lactic acid bacteria at an optimized level to obtain a desired level of lactic acid in the meat analog product, with a reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding claim 24, a minced product is considered an obvious modification of Mintel with a view to address consumer preferences.
Claims 11-26 are prima facie obvious in view of the art.
Correspondence
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to Subbalakshmi Prakash whose telephone number is (571)270-3685. The examiner can normally be reached Monday-Friday.
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/SUBBALAKSHMI PRAKASH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1793