Patent Grant
12161088
A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to any reproduction by anyone of the patent disclosure, as it appears in the United States Patent and Trademark Office patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
The field of this disclosure relates to an Edible Pet Chew, and more particularly to an artificial bully stick (bully stick analogue) of edible pet chew.
Domestic pets, primarily dogs, have an instinct to chew which keeps their teeth healthy, exercises their jaws and teeth and keeps teeth clean. “Pet Chew” products have been introduced to the market for many years to accommodate that instinctive urge to chew in a healthy direction.
“Pet Chews” are intended to be chewed by a pet/dog for an extended period of time before being digested. A great part of pet chew products in the market are traditional Bully Sticks welcome very much by dogs and consumers, which are made of natural bovine penis. Generally foreskin of bovine penis is removed, cleaned and then dehydrated by for example heating or freeze-drying. It enjoys an inherent “good palatability” and “durability (after dehydrating process)” which makes it an outstanding successful product in the trade.
However, traditional bully stick products have some drawbacks, such as:
In the market, there's another popular product in a form of injection-molded or extruded stick, typically formulated by plant based materials, enjoying the benefits of low-cost raw materials. Also, it is a product with “durability” property which can provide a long chewing time for dogs. However these kinds of product are commercialized by many distributors or retailers under great competitions. The competition is a homogeneous one, in which a product is hard to be well distinguished from another. A homogeneity product is hard to attract consumers to buy.
What is required is to provide a pet chew overcoming the drawbacks above-mentioned accompanying the existing traditional bully stick products and extruded, injection-moulding, cast moulding or compression moulding stick products.
U.S. application Ser. No. 13/858,592 by Shrestha, filed on Apr. 8, 2013, disclosed a pet chew including a hardened cheese and a dry animal tissue such as bully sticks attached to the cheese piece. And it also disclosed a kind of animal tissue puff such as bully puff. However, the bully sticks or bully puff it attempted to apply as still is traditional bully sticks, no new matters. It still has the drawbacks of traditionally bully stick as aforementioned.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,479,687 by Anderson, filed on Feb. 14, 2007, disclosed a pet chew with rawhide and traditional bully stick (or steer penis) woven together. Since it's still a traditional bully stick product, it suffers the drawbacks of traditional bully stick aforementioned.
US patent application no. U.S. Pat. No. 8,074,609B2 by Grant Adkins, filed on Mar. 25, 2010, disclosed a rawhide pet chew with a traditional bully stick wrapped in. But since it's still a traditional bully stick product, it suffers the drawbacks of traditional bully stick aforementioned.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,677,203 by Stern, filed on Nov. 21, 2006, disclosed a pet chew with a plant based outer casing and a chewy edible material positioned within the casing. However, it is silent about an intention to make a bully-stick-like product imitating bully stick. The products it disclosed have nothing to do with traditional bully stick, which does not have any features of imitating traditional bully stick. And also it fails to disclose a molded, injection-molded or extruded pet chew with animal pizzle ingredient.
US application no 14,295,009 by Doerr, filed on Jun. 3, 2014, disclosed a pet chew including an amylase filling and a collagen casing. However it is silent about an intention to form a pet chew that is an artificial bully stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE, or bully stick analogue). It lacks of the necessary features that a traditional bully stick presents, such as bully stick shapes and structure. Thus it fails to attract consumers by working as a new product alternative to traditional bull stick product. Furthermore, it has a filling center that may use 40% bully pizzle material, however it fails to disclose how many pizzle ingredient percentage in weight exists in whole product formula. A disadvantage with this product is that, it has a collagen outer casing, where collagen material is considered to incur some disadvantages such as: A, collagen material is not inherently attractive making it fail to urge dogs to chew; B, manufacture of animal hide and collagen is relatively unregulated industry. It may create pollution to environment. H2O2 and NaOH chemicals that are used for rawhide manufacture and heavy metals may remain in finished products which harm dogs' health.
Attention is also directed to U.S. Pat. No. 7,691,426 by Doerr Axelrod, filed on Jun. 9, 2006, disclosed an animal chew combining a rawhide member and edible resin one.
An objective of the present disclosure is to provide a pet chew stick with plant ingredient and animal ingredient (typically meat and/or meat-by-products materials) imitating or approximating traditional bully stick products which is very much welcome by dogs and their owners.
An embodiment of the present disclosure is to provide a pet chew stick with pizzle ingredient imitating or approximating traditional bully stick products.
An objective of the present disclosure is to provide a pet chew with both “inherently good palatability” and “durability” simultaneously.
An objective of the present disclosure is to provide an edible pet chew serving as an alternative to existing traditional Bully Stick product by imitating/approximating the structure, and/or shape, and/or appearance, and/or size, and/or color, and/or texture, and/or flavor, and/or durability, and/or palatability of traditional bully stick.
An objective of the present disclosure is to provide an edible pet chew incorporating some features from two existing popular products into a single product, where the two existing products are plant based extruded (or injection-molding-shaped) stick product and traditional bully stick product.
An embodiment of the present disclosure, it is to provide an edible pet chew with an outer layer and an inner member, and the outer layer is with good durability and strength, which imitates a feature of traditional bully stick.
An embodiment of the present disclosure is to provide a bully stick analogue pet chew with a bully stick analogue member formed from a single piece of material that may not include outer layer or inner segment, which imitates a feature of traditional bully stick.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, a bully stick analogue pet chew is provided with one or more bully stick analogue member(s) being manipulated/shaped to a stick shape, a twisted stick configuration, a spiral shape, a pretzel knot, a knotted bone shape, a ring shape or a woven braid configuration alternatively before being hardened to a final product.
One embodiment of the present disclosure is to provide a bully stick analogue pet chew with a bully stick analogue member formed from a single piece of material without divided segments, with a longitudinal hole running through the length of the chew stick.
One embodiment of the present disclosure is to provide a bully stick analogue pet chew with a bully stick analogue member formed from a single piece of material with bubbles existing inside the chew stick.
An objective of the present disclosure is to provide an edible pet chew stick with a cross section outline shape similar to that of traditional bully sticks.
An objective of the present disclosure is to provide an edible pet chew formed from a composition material.
An objective of the present disclosure is to provide an Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE, or bully stick analogue) pet chew which is hugely cheaper than traditional bully stick.
An objective of the present disclosure is to provide an Artificial Bully Stick (bully stick analogue) pet chew which is raw-material-acquisition comparatively hugely easier than traditional bully stick.
An embodiment of the present disclosure is to provide an edible pet chew stick with pizzle material. The stick is obtained by extruding process with an extruder, to achieve the “chewy” property of the pet chew products.
An objective of the present disclosure is to provide an edible pet chew with limited animal hide ingredient in the products or even without animal hide ingredient.
In one aspect of the present disclosure, an edible pet chew is provided including an Artificial Bully Stick (bully stick analogue) chew member and an additional edible material member being assembled together.
In one embodiment of the present disclosure, an edible pet chew includes an Artificial Bully Stick member and an additional edible material member of animal pizzle material being assembled together.
In another embodiment of the present disclosure, an edible pet chew includes an Artificial Bully Stick member and an additional edible material member of animal hide material being assembled together.
In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, an edible pet chew includes an Artificial Bully Stick member and more than one additional ball-shaped edible material members being assembled together, forming a kabob configuration product.
Additional embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent from the description which follows, and may be realized by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particular point out in the appended claims.
Still further embodiments will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.
These and other embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, the accompanying drawings, and the appended claims.
Embodiments are provided in the following description only as examples. The general principles defined in the following description would be applied to other embodiments, alternatives, modifications, equivalents, and applications without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.
It should be noted that the term of “Bully stick” refers to a pet chew product of dehydrated animal (especially but not limited to bovine animal, bovine especially referring to bull or steer) pizzle, or segment thereof, for dogs to chew on, where the pizzle is derived from a natural animal penis cut from slaughtered animals (especially bovine), typically with foreskin being removed. The term of “pizzle” refers to the penis of an animal. Bovine (especially bull or steer) penis is known in pet chew trade as pizzle. This bully stick is so called traditional bully stick made of a dehydrated natural part of an animal (especially bovine).
Pet chew stick of the present disclosure is intended to work as an alternative to traditional (GENUINE) Bully Sticks aforementioned.
The term of “Bully Stick Analogue” pet chew (or say Bully-Stick-LIKE pet chew, or Artificial Bully Stick pet chew) in the present disclosure refers a pet chew or a pet chew member in a shape of stick formed from a composition material, imitating or approximating the features of traditional (GENUINE) bully stick product including the structure, and/or shape, and/or appearance, and/or size, and/or color, and/or texture, and/or flavor, and/or durability, and/or palatability, but it is not a traditional (GENUINE) bully stick.
It is known that a market-popular pet chew product should include two major factors, i.e. property of “chewy” (durability) and property of “inherently good palatability”. “Chewy” means a material that can endure a dog's chewing for a long time before being ingested. “Good palatability” means a material with inherent attractant to dogs without adding additional artificial flavorings. A market-successful pet chew product may be required to have both properties. The Artificial Bully Stick pet chew disclosed by the present disclosure may be a product with both “inherently good palatability” and “durability”. The term of “Single piece” or “one-piece” refers to a material consisting of or made in a single undivided piece that may not have divided or separate segments therein. The “single piece of material” is not the one that is formed from plural pieces that have been joined or welded together. For example, the pet chews as illustrated in
Before disclosing embodiments of the present disclosure, as a prior art, let's address a typical specification/structure/configuration and manufacturing process for these traditional (GENUINE) Bully Stick products as follows (from points 1 to 6):
All prior arts are silent with an intention to well imitate traditional Bully Stick with a composition material replacing the natural animal pizzle products. All prior art are silent to create a pet chew with features of the following as a whole: it's an extruded (or molded, or injection molded) stick with meat/meat-by-products (typically animal pizzle) ingredient and plant ingredient, with cross section outline shape of capital letter “B”, peanut icon, cashew nut icon, heart icon or “8” and with a continuous groove on the surface longitudinally through the length of the stick body.
It is also surprisingly disclosed by present inventor that, primary features of the present disclosure are to imitate the properties/features/structure of traditional Bully Stick aforementioned. It's disclosed by present inventor that, a pet chew product must necessarily bear at least one property/feature as described above (especially A, B and C), OR, the pet chew would fail to imitate traditional Bully Sticks.
Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE, or bully stick analogue) Pet Chew of the present disclosure imitating genuine bully stick is now being disclosed to serve as an alternative to aforementioned traditional (GENUINE) Bully Sticks, with significantly lower product cost, imitating some necessary properties or features (at least including shape or appearance features) of a traditional Bully Stick. Artificial Bully Stick (bully stick analogue) Pet Chew disclosed by the present disclosure is well distinguished from traditional Bully Sticks, which is typically an extruded (or injection-moulding, cast moulding or compression moulding) stick product formed from a composition material with plant ingredient. As a contrast, traditional Bully Stick is substantially a single ingredient product primarily without being processed other than dehydrating process.
One advantage of the Artificial Bully Stick (bully stick analogue) pet chew of the present disclosure is its hugely cheaper material cost than traditional bully stick. The Artificial Bully Stick pet chew is extremely cheaper than traditional bully stick which is made of substantially 100% bovine pizzle. The latter could be 4 times of the price of the former. Due to the natural scarcity property with the source of natural bovine pizzle, raw materials (bovine pizzle) for producing traditional bully sticks are sold at an extremely high price, which results in the final products, traditional bully sticks, being sold to consumers at an extraordinarily high price. Another advantage is the easier acquisition of raw material versus traditional bully stick products. Producing traditional bully stick products requires huge volume of natural animal pizzle. In one embodiment, the Artificial Bully Stick (bully stick analogue) pet chew of the present disclosure is formed from a composition with meat-by-product ingredient (for example pizzle). For example the composition has 10% pizzle in formula (90% is non-pizzle ingredient which is extremely acquisition-easier material than pizzle), in which producing this product just requires one tenth of pizzle material to manufacture the same quantity of finished products versus traditional bully stick products. Preparing the composition materials for production of Artificial Bully Stick pet chew is much easier than that for production of traditional bully sticks.
In some embodiments, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) member of the pet chew products of the present disclosure is in a form of a “single piece” of material (one-piece material). The single piece of material (or one-piece material) consists of or is made in a single undivided piece that may not have divided segments in it. For example it does not have outer layer member or inner member that is formed from two separate materials. As shown in
In comparison to other different materials to form a pet chew of the present disclosure, single piece of material may provide some benefits as following. A, Single piece of material may be easier to produce as it only requires one single material for production and potentially one single set of extrusion or injection moulding machine system. B, Thanks to the continuity of the material of the pet chew member made of a single piece of material, a greater structural strength of the material may be obtained. C, It may better accommodate injection moulding processing capability.
Alternatively, the single piece of material forming the pet chew products of the present disclosure has numerous (a plurality of) bubbles, blisters, or air-filled cavities spread into the interior of the material. The benefits of the air bubbles existing herein may include: increasing contract area with dog teeth which penetrate the exterior of the single piece of material, which provides improved tartar and dental plaque control actions; enhancing the imitation action by imitating the interior configurations or texture of a Genuine Bully Stick whose inside part is porous that is formed by tissues of corpus cavernosum and/or spongiosum; being more friendly to puppies or old dogs who have weak teeth while being gnawed. As shown in
Yet in some other embodiments, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew (or pet chew member) of the present disclosure includes an outer layer member/portion and an inner member/portion, where the former holds the latter by surrounding it, in a purpose to imitate a typical feature of traditional Bully Sticks. In one embodiment, the thickness of the outer layer is substantially homogenous along the whole stick body, as traditional bully stick does. Typical thickness of the outer layer is 0.3 mm-5 mm. As shown in
In one preferred embodiment, an Artificial Bully Stick (bully stick analogue) pet chew (or pet chew member) of the present disclosure has a (built-in) groove form longitudinally running along the pet chew stick body on the surface of the Artificial Bully Stick (member), with a purpose to imitate or approximate a typical inherent groove of traditional Bully Stick products. More typically, the groove is a continuous one longitudinally through the full length of the stick body appearing on the surface of the stick body. It should be noted that, there are various shapes/structures/appearance that genuine bull stick products may possess, which makes it hard to identify a common structural feature of them. The present applicant surprisingly discloses that, “groove” is a key feature that the Artificial Bully Sticks (bully stick analogue) products should possess to imitate/approximate genuine bully stick appearance although it is understood that genuine bully stick have various shapes/structures and various cross section shapes. This disclosure discloses a perfect and easy imitation method to imitate traditional bully stick appearance. Additionally, the form of “groove” appearing on the pet chew may provide extra benefits of tooth cleaning action, where the groove form may accommodate dog tooth configurations and have it slide along the two walls of the groove while being gnawed by a dog, and thus tartar or dental plaque may be mechanically removed hereby. A typical groove depth of the Artificial Bully Stick is at least 1 mm as that of a genuine bully stick does. Typically the depth of a groove of the Artificial Bully Stick accounts for at least 10% of the thickness of the Artificial Bully Stick. A depth accounting for “10% of the thickness” may be the least one that makes a groove noticeable to consumers when it appears on a chew stick surface. Now refer to
Cross section outline shapes of Artificial Bully Stick (bully stick analogue) pet chews of the present disclosure may resemble the cross section outline shapes of natural Bully Sticks, with a purpose to imitate or approximate Bully Sticks. Natural bully sticks have various cross section outline shapes which are inherently determined by raw material of pizzles. In one embodiment, cross section of an Artificial Bully Stick pet chew (artificial-bully-stick member) of the present disclosure is in an outline shape substantially similar to capital letter “B”, or cashew nut (icon), or peanut (icon), or heart icon, or Arabic numeral “8”, imitating/approximating a typical cross section outline shape of traditional bully sticks as aforementioned. These typical outline shapes of the Artificial Bully Stick (shapes that are similar to capital letter “B”, or cashew nut (icon), or peanut (icon), or heart icon, or Arabic numeral “8”) have a common feature, where the outline shapes have a “trough” area that is significantly lower than the surface. The “trough” appearing on the outline shapes are created by aforementioned “groove” that runs longitudinally along the Artificial Bully Stick body. These specific cross section outline shapes (shapes that are similar to capital letter “B”, or cashew nut (icon), or peanut (icon), or heart icon, or Arabic numeral “8”) with distinct “trough” part may well fulfill the natural bully stick imitation purposes. As shown in
Some other alternative cross section outline shapes for the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew can refer to the various ones that traditional bully stick may feature with as described in
In one embodiment, inner member color of the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew is comparatively lighter than outer layer color, as GENUINE bully stick does. Now refer to
In one embodiment, a whole or a part of the outer layer of the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew stick of the present disclosure is translucent where inner member inside is a bit visible through the outer layer, in a purpose to imitate a typical outer layer appearance of traditional Bully Sticks. While observing genuine bully stick product, it's concluded that a pet chew stick with a completely transparent/clear outer layer or with a completely opaque outer layer is thought to fail to well imitate the appearance of genuine bully stick. Now refer to
It should be noted that, all prior arts are silent to create a pet chew with features of the following as a whole: it's an artificial bully stick, it's an extruded stick (or molded, or injection molding) formed from a composition material with plant ingredient, with cross section outline shape of “B”, or peanut icon, or cashew nut icon, or heart icon, or “8”, and with a groove longitudinally running through the whole length of the stick body.
And in one embodiment, the outer layer of a Bully Stick Analogue according to the present disclosure presents fiber-like texture, in a purpose to imitate a typical outer layer texture of traditional Bully Sticks. The thickness of outer layer of the Artificial Bully Stick of the present disclosure is typically 0.3 mm-5 mm, imitating the thickness feature of traditional bully stick products.
In one embodiment, inner member of the Artificial Bully Stick pet chew of the present disclosure has a bubble, blister or air-filled cavity (numerous bubbles, blisters or air filled cavities), being intended to imitate/approximate the appearance/texture of inner part of traditional bully stick that is formed by tissues of corpus cavernosum and/or spongiosum. Alternatively, there are edible-granule-formed materials appearing in the inner member (creating visual illusion of pore-like forms), being intended to visually imitate appearance/texture of inner part of traditional bully stick that is formed by tissues of corpus cavernosum and/or spongiosum. In one embodiment, these tiny bubbles or edible-granule-formed materials spread substantially homogeneously to the inner member material. As shown in
In one embodiment, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew includes artificial pizzle flavor (or say bully stick flavor) or hydrolyzed pizzle ingredient (this can also provide strong pizzle flavor) in its formula, which further enhances its attraction to dogs and consumers.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the outer layer hardness of the Artificial Bully Stick pet chew is with a durometer value between 80 and 100. In other embodiments of the present disclosure, the outer layer hardness of the edible pet chew is with a durometer value between 60 and 80. In other embodiments of the present disclosure, the outer layer hardness of the edible pet chew is with a durometer value between 50 and 60. In other embodiments of the present disclosure, the outer layer hardness of the edible pet chew is with a durometer value between 40 and 50.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the Bully Stick Analogue pet chews are formed from a single piece of material having air bubbles inside the chew stick. The Bully Stick Analogue as illustrated in
Now to disclose formulas that may alternatively form the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew (or pet chew member).
Firstly the phrase of “on an as formulated basis” in the present disclosure that may be used in following paragraphs is defined here. It is about a means to determine weight percentages of an ingredient in a product. “On an as formulated basis” is also a method that currently FDA (or AAFCO) organizations of USA usually utilize to determine weight percentage for an ingredient in a product. By the means of “on an as formulated basis”, the weight percentage of an ingredient in a food is determined as it is added in the formulation of the food, including its inherent water content, not counting the water added for processing. All weight percentage values of ingredients appearing in the present disclosure apply this “on an as formulated basis” rule.
In one embodiment, the formula of the Artificial Bully Stick (or bully stick analogue) pet chew (or pet chew member) of the present disclosure includes a specific meat by-products, pizzle (or animal penis) ingredient. The term of “pizzle ingredient” or “pizzle material” that works as an ingredient to form an composition material forming the artificial bully stick refers to an material derived from animal pizzle, which may be in a form of fresh pizzle, dehydrated pizzle, dried pizzle, ground pizzle, ground dehydrated pizzle, enzymatic pizzle or hydrolyzed pizzle. The advantages of including this specific meat by-products, pizzle ingredient, in the formula go as follows (from point 1 to 4):
In one embodiment, the Artificial Bully Stick (or bully stick analogue) pet chew of the present disclosure includes at least 3% pizzle (or animal penis) ingredient in formula. The reason why it has to be with “at least 3%” pizzle ingredients goes as follows (point 1 and 2):
In some embodiments, the Artificial Bully Stick (or bully stick analogue) pet chew (or pet chew member) includes 3%-50% pizzle ingredient.
In some embodiments, the Artificial Bully Stick (or bully stick analogue) pet chew (or pet chew member) includes 5%-65% (more typically 10%-25%) pizzle ingredient on an as formula basis in its formula. The Bully-Stick-LIKE pet chew (or pet chew member) with over 50% (especially over 65%) pizzle ingredient is considered too expensive, which could violate the initial intention of introducing this product. Also The Artificial Bully Stick pet chew (or pet chew member) with over 50% (especially over 65%) pizzle ingredient is considered to be able to ruin the “durability” of the pet chew. The reason is, the more an extruded (or molded, or injection molding) pet chew contains meat (meat by-product), the less durability the extruded (or molded, or injection molding) pet chew will be with. Pizzle is an animal source meat-by-product-ingredient. According to R&D findings by the inventor, 10%-25% pizzle ingredient in the Artificial Bully Stick pet chew (or pet chew member) is an optimized one, which provides a balance between durability, material cost, sufficient inherent natural pizzle flavor and natural protein source.
We conducted palatability contrast tests to determine the starting percentage of pizzle ingredient to put into the Artificial Bully Stick pet chew that can secure an absolute preference for dogs for the pet chew. The test interprets that when the pizzle percentage goes up to 10% or larger than 10%, an absolute preference appears versus plain extruded (or molded, or injection molding) stick chews w/o pizzle ingredient. On the other hand, the more pizzle in a pet chew, the more expensive the pet chew will be. 10%-25% is one pizzle percentage range in the Artificial Bully Stick pet chew that can provide a balance between “palatability” and cost.
In one embodiment, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew of the present disclosure includes a plant ingredient in the formula. This Artificial Bully Stick pet chew product is an extruded (or injection-moulding, or cast moulding, or compression moulding) product. Plant ingredient is an often-used material for extruded (or injection-moulding, or cast moulding, or compression moulding) products with advantages of (point 1, 2, 3 and 4):
A typical material working as a plant ingredient is plant starch, such as (but not limited to) corn starch, sweet potato, sweet potato starch, tapioca starch and potato starch.
In one preferred embodiment, the Artificial Bully Stick includes at least 20% (for example 20%-90% plant, more typically 20%-50%) plant ingredient in weight on an as formulated basis.
It should be noted that the “plant” ingredient in the present disclosure refers to all edible plant materials and edible-plant-derived materials, such as (but not limited to) vegetables, fruit, edible-plant-derived materials, vegetable-derived materials, fruit-derived materials, plant protein, vegetable protein, plant starch, vegetable starch, grains, cereals, corn, gluten-free edible plant and gluten-free vegetables. Gluten-free plant and gluten-free vegetables are materials to form the “plant ingredient” since gluten materials are considered by experts in this industry as the ones that could potentially make dogs allergic. Examples of gluten-free plant material are tapioca, soybean, sweet potato, potato and carrot.
The reasons why it is optimal to be larger than 20% (20% specifically) plant ingredient in the Artificial Bully Stick go as follows: 1. According to our outstanding research tests, 20% plant ingredient appearing in the Artificial Bully Stick formula is the least one that can successfully facilitate recipe to make the Artificial Bully Stick product with ideal durability/hardness which enables it to imitate this essential property of traditional bully sticks. 2. Recipe with less than 20% plant ingredient fails to do that way with unsatisfactory durability product.
The reasons why the plant ingredient existing in the formula of the Artificial Bully Stick may be “<50% plant ingredients” go as follows:
Since dogs are carnivorous, plant material does not attract pets very much. A pet chew product with too high plant percentage (over 50%) existing in the formula is less attractive to dogs, since dogs do not prefer vegetal material. Our tests indicate that, in an extruded (or injection-moulding, or cast moulding, or compression moulding) pet chew product, <50% plant ingredient by weight can achieve a good malleability and durability for an extruded piece (or injection molding formed piece). Too much plant ingredients in it will reduce the palatability or attraction of the pet chew significantly. Our tests indicate that, in a pet chew product, when plant ingredient being >50% by weight, plant ingredient will be an absolutely primary ingredient, which makes the pet chew NOT good in palatability performance and not attractive to dogs. Therefore, in a pet chew product, “>50% plant ingredient” may not be optimal to form the extruded (or injection-moulding, or cast moulding, or compression moulding) pet chew of the present disclosure.
In one embodiment, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew stick is typically with a length of about 6″ or 12″, which is considered as most popular stick length welcome by consumers. Diameter of the chew stick could be 1 cm to 5 cm.
In one embodiment, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew member includes an animal ingredient (including meat and meat by-products) ingredient in the formula.
It should be noted that the “meat” ingredient in the present disclosure is defined as the material selected from (but not limited to) the group consisting of: animal flesh, animal muscle, poultry meat, chicken, chicken breast, duck, goose, turkey, venison, porcine meat, pork, bovine meat, beef, mutton, lamb, goat meat, fish, meat meal, chicken meal, fish meal, hydrolyzed meat protein, hydrolyzed animal material, hydrolyzed animal protein, meat derived ingredient and poultry derived ingredient.
It should also be noted that the “meat by-product” ingredient in the present disclosure is defined as the material typically selected from (but not limited to) the group consisting of: animal pizzle, porcine meat by-product, poultry by-product, bovine meat by-product, animal viscera, animal stomach, animal tongue, animal kidney, animal blood, animal bone, partially defatted low temperature fatty tissue, animal intestines, animal spleen, animal liver, animal lung, animal heart, animal pizzle, meat by-product meal, poultry by-product meal, hydrolyzed meat-by-products protein, hydrolyzed meat-by-products material, meat by-product derived ingredient, poultry by-product derived ingredient, animal fat and animal oil. It should be noted that the “meat by-product” in the present disclosure does not include animal hide/skin material and collagen material with the reasons of: A, both animal hide/skin material and collagen do not have attractive flavor urging dogs to chew. B, manufacture of animal hide and collagen is relatively unregulated industry. It may create pollution to environment. H2O2 and NaOH chemicals that are used for rawhide manufacture and heavy metals may remain in finished products which harm dogs' health.
Animal ingredient (including Meat and Meat By-products) is an often-used material for extruded (or injection-moulding, or cast moulding, or compression moulding) products with advantages of (point 1 and 2). “Animal ingredient” is defined as edible materials derived from slaughtered mammals. It includes (but not limited to) meat, meat by-products. It does not include hair, horns, teeth and hoofs.
In some embodiments, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew (or pet chew member) includes 3%-80% (typically 10%-50%) animal ingredient (meat ingredient and/or meat by-products) in its formula on an as formula basis.
The reason why it has to be with “at least 3% animal ingredient” goes as follows (point 1 and 2 below):
In one embodiment, in addition to animal ingredient, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew further includes a chemical in formula. The chemical is introduced to provide the Artificial Bully Stick pet chew sufficient rigidity/durability and strength in finished product. The chemical is selected from the group consisting of a thickener, a humectant, a stabilizer, an emulsifier, a gelatinizer, a binder, and a filler.
The thickener is selected from the group consisting of: glucose syrup, malt syrup, soy protein Isolate, wheat protein isolate, corn protein isolate, artemisia gum, linseed gum, deacetylated chitin, pectins, sodium alginate, xanthan gum, carrageenan; phosphated distarch phosphate, sodium lactate, diacetyl tartaric acid ester of mono(di)glycerides(DATAE), sesbania gum, polyglycerol esters of fatty acid (polyglycerol monostearate, polyglycerol monooleate), maltitol, sorbitol, propylene glycol, ablmoschus manihot gum, β-cyclodextrin, arabic gum, starch acetate, guar gum, potassium alginate, carob bean gum, gellan gum, sodium polyacrylate, distarch phosphate, gelatin, hydroxypropyl, distarch phosphate, hydroxypropyl methyl cellulose, agar, acid treated starch, sodium carboxy methyl cellulose, oxidized starch and oxidized hydroxypropyl starch.
The humectant is selected from the group consisting of: soy protein Isolate, wheat protein isolate, corn protein isolate, glucose syrup, malt syrup, sodium pyrophosphate, trisodium orthophosphate, sodium hexametaphosphate, sodium tripolyphosphate, phosphoric acid, calcium dihydrogen phosphate, sodium lactate, maltitol, sorbitol, propylene glycol, glycerin, sodium dihydrogen phosphate, sodium phosphate dibasic, potassium lactate, sodium lactate, acetylated distarch phosphate and acetylated distarch adipate.
The stabilizer is selected from the group consisting of: trisodium orthophosphate, potassium sorbate, sodium stearoyl lactylate, calcium stearoyl lactylate, phosphoric acid, hydroxypropyl starch, pectins, xanthan gum, carrageenan, sodium lactate, polyglycerol esters of fatty acid (polyglycerol monostearate, polyglycerol monooleate), maltitol, sorbitol, propylene glycol, propylene glycol esters of fatty acid and glucono delta-lactone.
The emulsifier is selected from the group consisting of: soy protein Isolate, wheat protein isolate, corn protein isolate, Sucrose esters of fatty acid, sodium hexametaphosphate, sodium stearoyl lactylate, calcium stearoyl lactylate, hydroxypropyl starch, pectins, carrageenan, diacetyl tartaric acid ester of mono(di)glycerides (DATAE), polyglycerol esters of fatty acid (polyglycerol monostearate, polyglycerol monooleate), maltitol, sorbitan monolaurate, sorbitol, propylene glycol, propylene glycol esters of fatty acid, polyoxyethylene xylitan monostearate, tripolyglyceryl monostearate, potassium stearate, mono-(di-,tri-)glyce rides of fatty acids, modified soybean phospholipid, sodium caseinate, citric and fatty acid esters of glycerol, lactic and fatty acid esters of glycerol, sodium starch octenyl succinate and acetylated monoand diglyceride (acetic and fatty acid esters of glycerol).
The gelatinizer is selected from the group consisting of: soy protein Isolate, wheat protein isolate, corn protein isolate, propylene glycol, glucono delta-lactone.
The binder is selected from the group consisting of: glutinous rice flour, gelatin, linseed gum, pectins, xanthan gum, carrageenan, sesbania gum, maltitol, sodium alginate, ablmoschus manihot gum, arabic gum, guar gum, Carob bean gum, gellan gum and agar.
The filler is selected from the group consisting of: a plant material, a plant derived material, a plant protein and a plant starch, saccharide, dextrin, lactose, mineral salt and fructose.
In some embodiments, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE, or bully stick analogue) pet chew of the present disclosure is free of animal hide/skin materials and/or free of collagen materials with the concerns of drawbacks of animal hide/skin and collagen mentioned in previous paragraph.
In some embodiments to form a composition for making the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew, in addition to animal ingredient, animal hide material is used. A small percentage of animal hide (for example <20%) may help strengthen the durability of the pet chew stick. But due to the disadvantages of animal hide material as mentioned in above Paragraphs, animal hide material to be used to form the composition is required to be at a limited percentage by weight. It's anticipated that when animal hide percentage in the composition goes higher than 50%, animal hide material will be an absolute majority ingredients existing in the pet chew formula, which makes the pet chew product an animal hide based product. A pet chew product made from animal hide based material is thought to significantly involve in an unhealthy product concern and environment harm concern. Therefore, in some embodiments where animal hide exists in the formula of the Artificial Bully Stick pet chew, it is optimal to have the animal hide material account for less than 50% in weight in its formula. More typically, animal hide material account for 5%-20% in weight in its formula.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew of the present disclosure includes a plant ingredient (>20%) and an animal ingredient (typically meat or meat-by-products. remarks: meat-by-products includes pizzle) in the formula, forming a pet chew with a texture resembling that of traditional bully stick product. All prior arts fail to disclose that plant and animal ingredients with a proper content percentage existing in a composition material can enable the composition material extruded (or molded, or injection molding) sticks to obtain a finished product appearance/texture/rigidity resembling that of traditional bully stick product.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew of the present disclosure includes a hydrolyzed animal protein ingredient and a plant ingredient (>20%) in the formula. The hydrolyzed animal protein (for example hydrolyzed meat protein) works as an attractant in the recipe.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew of the present disclosure includes a pizzle ingredient and a plant ingredient (>20%) in the formula.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew of the present disclosure includes a pizzle ingredient, a plant ingredient and a meat ingredient in the formula.
In yet some other embodiments of the present disclosure, the Artificial Bully Stick pet chew of the present disclosure includes a plant ingredient (>20%) and a meat by-products ingredient in the formula.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew of the present disclosure includes 20%-50% plant ingredient, 10%-50% meat ingredient and a chemical.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew of the present disclosure includes 0.3%-5% hydrolyzed animal protein ingredient, 20%-90% plant ingredient, 5%-50% meat ingredient and a chemical.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew of the present disclosure includes 5%-25% pizzle, 50%-90% plant ingredient and a chemical.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew of the present disclosure includes 3%-25% meat by-products, 50%-90% plant ingredient and a chemical.
In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew of the present disclosure includes 5%-25% pizzle, 20%-50% plant ingredient, 10-50% animal-hide ingredient and a chemical.
In one embodiment, the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully-Stick-LIKE) pet chew is formed by extruding process with an extruder (typically co-extruding extruder system). The reasons for a preference of extruding process include: A, Extruding process can achieve an outer layer texture imitating that of traditional bully sticks. Extruding process is viewed as the best one. While being extruded, a pressure acts on the composition material which provides durability/texture to finished products; B, It is perfect for a stick shaped product. C, Extruding is a very efficient process, which provides a low cost processing for making the products; D, It provides large capacity for a single workshop with limited scale. Co-extruding may be a process to produce this pet chew stick product because co-extruding process can well provide two separate pet chew members (outer layer and inner member) with different quality, which imitates traditional bully sticks. Now refer to
Although extrusion process may be beneficial in various circumstances to produce the artificial bully stick pet chews, a virtually unlimited variety of 3—dimensional shaped artificial bully stick products (bully stick analogue) can be produced by applying injection moulding techniques instead, in which the extrusion process is incapable. Injection moulding is a process whereby a thermoplastic material (such as the aforementioned composition material to form the artificial bully stick product) is fed into a heated barrel, mixed, and forced by injection into a cavity of a rigid frame called a mould, where it cools and hardens (sets) to the configuration of the cavity.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the pet chew sticks are formed by co—extruding process and the formula forming the outer layer is different from the one forming the inner member. The intention to apply different formulas to the outer layer and the inner member is to achieve different texture, and/or looking, and/or coloring, and/or durability/hardness, and/or density, etc., which could make a one distinguished from the other, imitating traditional bully stick products.
As a process for making the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully—Stick—LIKE) pet chew of the present disclosure, it includes (from point A to D):
Here are some embodiments of the present disclosure in various pet chew shapes/configurations.
Now refer to
Now refer to
Now refer to
Now refer to
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, an Edible Material member is applied together with a member of Artificial Bully Stick chew stick 0100, where the edible material member and the Artificial Bully Stick member are assembled together to form a pet chew. The Artificial Bully Stick chew stick 0100 may be reshaped by hand to a new shape before it gets hardened while being assembled with the edible material member according to desired finished pet chew structure.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a member of animal hide (say rawhide) may be applied together with a member of Artificial Bully Stick chew stick 0100, where the animal hide (say rawhide) member and the Artificial Bully Stick member are assembled together to form a pet chew. The Artificial Bully Stick chew stick 0100 may be pre—shaped to a new shape before being assembled with the animal hide member according to desired finished pet chew structure. Now refer to
In yet some embodiments of the present disclosure, a member of Genuine Animal Pizzle material may be applied together with a member of Artificial Bully Stick chew stick 0100, where the Genuine animal Pizzle material member and the Artificial Bully Stick member are assembled together to form a pet chew.
In the trade of traditional bully stick, sometimes original bully stick is longitudinally split to several separate pieces of slimmer sticks with desired diameters. The slimmer sticks are packed as final products for consumers. Product 1000 in
As a formula embodiment to form the composition to produce the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully—Stick—LIKE) pet chew stick, the composition is consisting of. Rice flour (67.2%, classified as plant ingredient), vegetable glycerin (8%), gelatin (7%), fresh chicken breast (5% classified as meat ingredient), ground bovine tendon (3%, classified as meat—by—products ingredient), cellulose powder (2%, classified as plant ingredient), calcium carbonate (2%), sweet potato (2%, classified as plant ingredient), lecithin (1%), carrageenan gun (1%), hydrolyzed pizzle (0.5% classified as meat—by—products ingredient), brewers yeast (0.5%), titanium dioxide (0.4%), FD&C yellow 6 (0.2%), FD&C red 40 (0.1%), FD&C blue 1 (0.1%). In this formula, meat—by—products ingredient occupies 3.5% in the formula, plant ingredient totally 71.2%, and meat 5%. Vegetable glycerin, calcium carbonate and carrageenan gum are some chemicals.
As another formula embodiment to form the composition to produce the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully—Stick—LIKE) pet chew stick, the composition is consisting of: Rice flour (43.6%, classified as plant ingredient), fresh chicken breast (30%, classified as meat ingredient), vegetable glycerin (8%), gelatin (7%), chicken cartilage (2% classified as meat ingredient), cellulose powder (2%, classified as plant ingredient), calcium carbonate (2%), sweet potato (2%, classified as plant ingredient), lecithin (1%), carrageenan gum (1%), brewers yeast (1%), titanium dioxide (0.4%). In this formula, plant ingredient occupies totally 47.6% in the formula, and meat totally 32%. Vegetable glycerin, calcium carbonate and carrageenan gun are some chemicals.
As another formula embodiment to form the composition to produce the Artificial Bully Stick (or Bully—Stick—LIKE) pet chew stick, the composition is consisting of: Fresh chicken breast (28.00%, classified as meat ingredient), tapioca starch (20.00%, classified as plant ingredient), ground pizzle (12.00%, classified as pizzle ingredient), gelatin (12.00%), vegetable glycerin (8.00%), rawhide (5.00%), sorbitol (3.60%), cellulose powder (3.00%, classified as plant ingredient), calcium carbonate (3.00%), sweet potato (2.00%, classified as plant ingredient), lecithin (1.00%), carrageenan gum (1.00%), brewers yeast (1.00%), titanium dioxide (0.40%). In this formula, pizzle ingredient occupies 12% in the formula, meat 28% and plant ingredient totally 25%. Vegetable glycerin, sorbitol, calcium carbonate and carrageenan gun are some chemicals.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201710697772.9 | Aug 2017 | CN | national |
This application is a CIP application of, and claims priority benefit to U.S. application Ser. No. 16/190,118, filed on Nov. 13, 2018, which is a CIP of U.S. application Ser. No. 15/680,721, filed on Aug. 18, 2017, now patent Ser. No. 10/159,266. This application also claims priority to CN Application No. 201710697772.9 filed on Aug. 15, 2017.
| Number | Name | Date | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7691426 | Axelrod | Apr 2010 | B2 |
| 20080118606 | Stern | May 2008 | A1 |
| 20140363537 | Doerr | Dec 2014 | A1 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20220000073 A1 | Jan 2022 | US |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16190118 | Nov 2018 | US |
| Child | 17478986 | US | |
| Parent | 15680721 | Aug 2017 | US |
| Child | 16190118 | US |
