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 amendment and response filed 11/17/2025. Claims 1,3,4,8 and 10-13 are pending in the application. Claims 1,3,4,8 were amended, claims 2,5-7 and 9 were canceled and new claims 10-13 were added.
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.
Claim(s) 1,3,4,8 and 10-13 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over He et al. (EP4445747A1) cited in an IDS, in view of known properties of biopolymer gels (Clark et al. Food Hydrocolloids 1, 17-38 (1987) and Matsuo et al. (JP2009125010A) cited in an IDS.
Regarding claim 1, 3, 4 and 8, He ([0047], Example 1)) discloses a composition for making a meat-like (product comprising 20-80%water, 0.1% rapeseed protein, 1-30%Textured Vegetable Protein, 1-20% oil and 0.1-15% curdlan, colors and flavors. Example 1 discloses producing a sol with the above ingredients, with 5% curdlan and 5% protein and pouring into a gel cup and heating with steam. Heating produces a solid gel.
He does not specifically disclose poring the sol on a surface that is heated and stirring the sol while heating. However, as well known in the culinary art, liquid egg for example can be gelled by heat to form an intact solid or stirred during heating to form granules. Clark discloses in biopolymer (such as curdlan) gels, when shear is applied during gelation, the forming network can be disrupted and the material forms particulate or fragmented gels rather than a continued network. Matsuo discloses scrambled eggs (granular solid) comprising curdlan, as an example of egg products (paragraph [0038]). Scrambled eggs are typically produced by pouring liquid eggs into a heated frying pan and then heating and coagulating the liquid eggs into a granular form with stirring. The height of the liquid surface of liquid eggs typically ranges from 0.05 mm to less than 1.0 cm in a frying pan. It would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to apply sufficient shear (stirring) to obtain a curdlan based gel with desired particle morphology with a reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding claim 3, He discloses a purified protein rapeseed protein.
Regarding claim 10 and 11, a granular solid in modified He is free of egg, meat, seafood.
Regarding claim 12, the composition in modified He has 0.1-15% curdlan, or 5% curdlan encompassing or falling within the claimed range.
Regarding claim 13, the composition in modified He has an oil, colors and flavors (additive).
Claims 1,3,4,8 and 10-13 are therefore prima facie obvious in view of the art.
Response to Arguments
Claim amendments render the previous rejections under 35 USC 112(b) and 35 USC 103 moot. However, the claims as amended present new grounds for rejection as detailed in the current office action.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
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
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