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 4/10/2026. Claims 1-8,12 and 17-27 are pending in the application.
Election/Restrictions
Applicant's election with traverse of Group 1 claims 1-8 and in the reply filed on 4/10/2026 is acknowledged. Applicant’s arguments for traversing the restriction have been considered, and are persuasive, the requirement is withdrawn.
Information Disclosure Statement
The information disclosure statement (IDS) submitted on 4/10/2026,3/28/2025 and 12/2/2024 were filed before the first Office action. The submission is in compliance with the provisions of 37 CFR 1.97. Accordingly, the information disclosure statements are being considered by the examiner.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112(b):
(b) CONCLUSION.—The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor regards as the invention.
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph:
The specification shall conclude with one or more claims particularly pointing out and distinctly claiming the subject matter which the applicant regards as his invention.
Claim 26,27 and dependent claims are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(b) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), second paragraph, as being indefinite for failing to particularly point out and distinctly claim the subject matter which the inventor or a joint inventor (or for applications subject to pre-AIA 35 U.S.C. 112, the applicant), regards as the invention.
Claim 26 recites “the natural preservative according to claim 1 characterized in that the application of the natural preservative in the flour product.” The phrase “the application” has no antecedent basis and one of ordinary skill in the art would not be reasonably apprised of the scope of the invention. Claim 27 recites “the steamed bun embryo” without antecedent basis. Appropriate correction is required.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claims 1-8, 12 and 17-27 are rejected under 35 USC 103 as being unpatentable over Qin et al. (CN108041401A) in view of Fourcassie et al. (WO2017/140796A1) cited an IDS.
Independent claim 1 is directed to a natural biopreservative for a flour product, characterized in that the natural biopreservative for the flour product is prepared by mixing lactic acid bacteria, distiller's yeast, an edible culture medium, and water to form a mix, and allowing the mix to undergo fermentation to produce the natural biopreservative, wherein the mix comprises in parts by weight, 0.5-5 parts of the lactic acid bacteria, 0.5-5 parts of the distiller's yeast, 90-130 parts of the edible culture medium, and 90-130 parts of the water. Dependent claims 12 and 27 are directed to making a steamed bun comprising the biopreservative.
Regarding claims 1, 3, 7,12, 26 and 27, Qin discloses a steam bun made using lactobacillus bulgaricus, streptococcus thermophilus, lactobacillus acidophilus, lactobacillus plantarum, bifidobacterium, lactobacillus rhamnosus and multi-strain mixed fermentation to prepare fermented sour dough, to improve the taste of the steamed bread, prolong shelf life and improve aging quality.
Qin therefore discloses the subject matter in the above claims, the mixed culture ferment functioning as a natural biopreservative, and improving the shelf life of a flour product, steam bread.
In exemplary compositions (in the machine translation), Qin describes multiculture lactic acid bacteria being combined with dried yeast in preparing a preserved flour component and its use in making steam bread.
The composition includes Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, and Bifidobacterium, as well as compositions comprising both Leuconostoc and Pediococcus.
A typical preparation method is described in the reference as :
step 1, mixing the lactic acid bacteria powder preparation: lactobacillus bulgaricus, streptococcus thermophilus, lactobacillus acidophilus, lactobacillus plantarum, bifidobacterium, lactobacillus rhamnosus to evenly mix;
step 2, mixing the lactic acid bacteria solution prepared in the step 1 the mixed lactic acid bacteria powder obtained by mixing with the purified water;
step 3, the fermented acid dough kneading in the step 2 preparing mixed lactic acid bacteria solution obtained with flour and water mixing into dough, dough contained in the mixed lactic acid bacteria powder, the proportion of flour and water is 0.8-1.2: 90-110: 90-110;
step 4, fermenting: preparing dough in the step 3 of placing the fermenting room to ferment until the pH is 4.2-5.2;
step 5, preparing paste prepared in the step 4 to obtain the paste with water, dry yeast uniformly to prepare mixed liquid of 10-20: 40-45: 0.8-1.5 are mixed, the mixed solution into 90-110 parts of flour, uniformly to form dough to the stirrer and stirring;
step 6, standing, covering wet cloth for preparing dough to obtain in step 5, standing for 5-10 min, controlling the environment temperature of 23-27 degrees centigrade;
step 7, shaping the dough using mechanical roll forming step 6, standing to obtain the steamed bun blank;
step 8, fermenting: inoculating the steamed bun blank in step 7 placed in fermenting in fermenting 30-40 min, controlling the environment temperature is 38-40 degrees centigrade, the humidity is 70-85 %;
step 9, steaming: after fermenting the steamed bun blank into the steaming cabinet steaming for 15-20 to obtain lactic acid bacteria steamed bread;
step 10, cooling: lactic acid bacteria after steamed bread steaming, cooling and cooling till the central temperature is 10-20 degrees centigrade in the workshop at 0-5 degrees centigrade without bacteria.
The present invention has the steps 1-5 provided in the form of a prepared sour dough inoculum comprising lactic acid bacteria and yeast, which is added to flour and water to prepare a dough for making steamed bread. The sour dough inoculum is therefore inherently a kit of part that is providable separately for use in making a steam bread product with improved shelf life and taste.
The only difference is in that in the reference, yeast is added separately in step 5, and distiller’s yeast is specified. However, as the edible culture medium is not specified in the independent claim but could be flour as in claim 7 and 21, no significant difference between the claimed biopreservative and its use, and that in the reference is discerned. Regarding using distiller’s yeast, as in claims absent a showing of unexpected effects with the use of the specified sweet wine yeast in culture, claimed in claims 8,22 and 23;“yeast” in the reference inherently includes this kind.
Qin does not specifically disclose a Pediococcus culture in a kit. However, Fourcassie discloses providing a prepared inoculum comprising Pediococcus and its successful use in preparing a steamed flour product (see claims 13-16 for example). One of ordinary skill in the art would have therefore applied Pediococci in making a sour dough kit with a reasonable expectation of success.
Regarding claims 2,4-6,17-20, 24 and 25, ratios of sour dough raw bacteria and culture conditions are considered experimentally optimized result effective variables, selected by one of ordinary skill in the art with a reasonable expectation of producing consistent products, absent evidence of criticality or unexpected results.
Claims 1-8,12 and 17-27 are therefore 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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If attempts to reach the examiner by telephone are unsuccessful, the examiner’s supervisor, Emily Le can be reached at (571) 272-0903. The fax phone number for the organization where this application or proceeding is assigned is 571-273-8300.
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/SUBBALAKSHMI PRAKASH/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1793
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