Obviousness

The present invention, U.S. Patent 11,317,640, describes a process for manufacturing a fruit snack with probiotics that is stable at room temperature. Independent Claim 1 outlines a process comprising the steps of: combining ingredients to produce a slurry; cooking the slurry to produce a center; applying a barrier layer to the center; allowing the center to cool; and applying an outer layer over the barrier layer.

An analysis of the patent's own disclosures, including its background art and examples, reveals elements that would render Claim 1 obvious to a person having ordinary skill in the art (POSITA) in food manufacturing.

Obviousness Analysis under 35 U.S.C. § 103

A POSITA, seeking to develop a shelf-stable, probiotic-containing fruit snack, would have found the combination of known food manufacturing techniques obvious. The patent itself identifies the core problem it aims to solve: "Currently available food products and supplements with probiotic cultures... have a limited shelf life and require refrigeration. High moisture content of the products as well as temperatures exceeding refrigeration dramatically reduces the shelf life and viable probiotic bacterial count." [cite: "Currently available food products and supplements with probiotic cultures"]. The patent also demonstrates through its non-inventive Examples 1-4 that directly incorporating heat-sensitive probiotics into a hot or warm fruit snack center results in their destruction.

To address this, a POSITA would have been motivated to combine the following known technologies:

1. Preparation of a Cooked Snack Center:

   • The general process of "combining a plurality of ingredients to produce a slurry" and "cooking the slurry to produce a center for the food product" is a well-known method in confectionery and snack manufacturing. The patent's own Examples 1-4, described as "not in accordance with the present invention," illustrate this basic process for creating a fruit snack center from ingredients like corn syrup, fruit juice/puree, cornstarch, and sugar, and cooking them to high temperatures (e.g., 240°F, 245°F) [cite: "Example 1", "Example 2", "Example 3", "Example 4"].
   • U.S. Pat. No. 6,528,102 (Brach's Confections, Inc.) titled "Fruit snacks with varied center filling," explicitly teaches the creation of fruit snack centers and their incorporation into multi-layered products. [cite: "US6528102B1"]

2. Incorporation of Probiotics into Food Products:

   • The concept of adding probiotics to food for health benefits was well-established prior to this patent's priority date. The patent mentions "Examples of various food products, some of which contain probiotics, include those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,968,569; 6,375,998; 6,723,358; 6,827,957; 6,528,102; and 6,676,982, and U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2007/0110844; 2008/0102163; 2008/0026108; 2006/0110493; 2006/0134285; 2007/0148324; and 2007/0231450" [cite: "Examples of various food products, some of which contain probiotics, include those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,968,569; 6,375,998; 6,723,358; 6,827,957; 6,528,102; and 6,676,982, and U.S. Patent Publication Nos. 2007/0110844; 2008/0102163; 2008/0026108; 2006/0110493; 2006/0134285; 2007/0148324; and 2007/0231450, each of which is incorporated herein by reference."].
   • Specifically, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2008/0102163 (General Mills, Inc.) titled "Cultures Encapsulated With Chocolate Food Products Coated With Chocolate And Method Of Preparation," directly teaches incorporating "cultures" (probiotics) into chocolate coatings for food products. [cite: "US20080102163A1"] This reference would motivate a POSITA to place probiotics in an outer layer, especially a chocolate one.

3. Cooling Prior to Adding Heat-Sensitive Components:

   • The step of "allowing the center of the food product to cool" is implicitly or explicitly taught by the patent's own failures in Examples 1-4, which show that adding probiotics to hot or warm product destroys them. A POSITA would understand that heat-sensitive ingredients, like probiotics, must be added to a cooled base. The patent states that the "fruit snack center with the barrier layer is cooled further, preferably to room temperature, if not already sufficiently cool to prevent the destruction of a meaningful amount of the probiotic cultures upon application." [cite: "the outer layer 16"]

4. Application of Barrier Layers to Manage Moisture and Protect Ingredients:

   • The use of coatings and barrier layers in food products to control moisture migration and protect sensitive ingredients is also well-known. The patent states that the "barrier film/layer 14 (also referred to herein as “barrier layer”) functions to substantially prevent moisture migration from the center to the outer layer, which as described further below contains probiotic cultures." [cite: "the barrier film/layer 14"].
   • U.S. Patent Publication No. 2004/0253347 (Kraft Foods Holdings, Inc.) titled "Food products having moisture release system for maintaining texture during shelf life," teaches managing moisture to maintain product quality. [cite: "US20040253347A1"]
   • U.S. Pat. No. 6,723,358 (General Mills, Inc.) titled "Encapsulation of components into edible products," teaches general techniques for encapsulating sensitive components within edible products, which could serve as a barrier function. [cite: "US6723358B1"]
   • The patent itself suggests various materials for the barrier layer, including "commercial yogurt coating, zein protein, CMC gum, xanthan gum, dark chocolate and milk chocolate" [cite: "the barrier layer"]. Many of these, such as vegetable gums (CMC, xanthan gum, gum Arabic, carageenan gum, as mentioned in the patent [cite: "the vegetable gums"]), are commonly used in food science for their gelling, thickening, and moisture-binding properties, making their use as a moisture barrier an obvious application of their known functions.

Motivation to Combine

A POSITA, motivated by the stated problem of probiotic instability in high-moisture, room-temperature fruit snacks, would have found it obvious to combine the teachings of these references.

• Starting with a known method for making fruit snack centers (e.g., from US6528102B1), the POSITA would understand that the center would need to cool.
• Recognizing the heat sensitivity of probiotics (as shown in the patent's own Examples 1-4), the POSITA would know to add them after the center has cooled, ideally in an outer layer.
• Drawing from US20080102163A1, the POSITA would be motivated to place these probiotics in an outer coating.
• Given the high moisture content of fruit snack centers and the known moisture sensitivity of probiotics (as acknowledged in the patent's background), the POSITA would be motivated to protect the probiotics from moisture migration. Therefore, incorporating a moisture barrier layer between the fruit center and the probiotic-containing outer layer (as suggested by the moisture management techniques in US20040253347A1 or general encapsulation/coating principles from US6723358B1) would be a logical and obvious design choice to preserve probiotic viability and achieve room-temperature stability.

The combination of preparing a fruit snack center, cooling it, applying a moisture-barrier layer, and then applying an outer layer containing heat-sensitive probiotics addresses a known problem with known solutions in a predictable manner, making the claimed process obvious to a POSITA.