Patent Application
20230177578
This invention relates to a novel and unique method of the in store addition of vitamins and other enhancers to pet food kibbles and a device to accomplish such method.
Dry, cereal based pet foods became popular during World War II when tin rationing curtailed the sale of canned dog food. The manufacturing process for making cereal based dry pet food, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,647,690, Process for Making Pet Food, issued to Patrick Corrigan, consists of blending dry ingredients such as animal fats and meals with soy, corn or wheat grains together with vitamins and minerals, pursuant to a specific recipe, compounded, to form a dough which is then sent through an extruder. In the United States, commercial preparation of pet food exceeds 12 tons per hour and is done in such a way that each batch is nutritionally and flavor wise identical to every other batch. Pet Food Manufacture, Wendy C. Brooks DVM, DABVP, on line at VeterinaryPartner.com.
Within the extruder, the dry ingredients are moistened, heated and then forced through dies to form kibbles. The heat in the extrusion process destroys most, if not all, of the naturally occurring vitamins, proteins and other enhancers present in the dry ingredients. To counteract the loss in nutritional value which occurs during extrusion and sometimes to add other beneficial ingredients such as palatants (flavor) or compounds directed at specific pet needs such as fatty acids including Omega 3 Fatty Acids as well as Glucosamine and Chondrotin directed at hip and joint inflamation; vitamins/proteins to promote growth, increase activity or decrease weight; or, Omega 6 Fatty Acids and vitamins to promote shiny coats (ingredients referred to as enhancers in this application) are injected/sprayed onto the dried kibbles following the extrusion process. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 8,647,690 and US Patent Application Number 2010/0080897, Frederick H. Flesser, Continuous Coating of Pellets, kibbles are placed onto a vibrating conveyor belt where they are sprayed with the desired enhancers. Following the addition of the enhancers along with the required drying, the pet food is bagged and shipped to a retailer where it is place on a shelf awaiting sale.
The entire process described above takes place at a manufacturing facility, the design of which is to maximize production while simultaneously minimizing cost. What this means is that large quantities of pet food with identical nutritional profiles which meet the general needs of the largest population of pets, are produced. There is no pet food produced which is designed to meet the specific nutritional requirements of a single pet owner. Additionally, it is generally known in the food industry that fresher is better. A strawberry picked from your garden is better than one obtained from the local farmer's market which is better than one purchased from a grocery store. From the moment the pet food is produced and during the entire time the bag of pet food sits on a shelf waiting to be sold, there is a degradation in the post extrusion enhancement that took place at the manufacturer.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a method and a device for allowing consumers to customize pet food for the specific nutritional needs of a specific pet with flavoring, vitamins, proteins and other enhancers. It is a further object of this invention to provide a method whereby consumers can input specific nutritional needs directly to the enhancement device using electronic communications such as the Internet. Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description when viewed in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which set forth certain embodiments of the invention.
The detailed embodiments of the present invention are disclosed herein. It should be understood, however, that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, the details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as the basis for the claims and as a basis for teaching one skilled in the art how to make and/or use the invention.
The Enhancement Device of the present invention, as depicted in
Depicted in
Shown in
The specific amount and type of dry enhancer to be used, as determined by the OFC, is measured and weighed using the digital scale [2]. The kibbles, liquid enhancer and/or dry enhancer, are then placed into the tumbler [3] and rotated for an amount of time sufficient to mix all of the ingredients. If necessary to provide sufficient coating of the kibbles, the liquid enhancers can be sprayed onto the kibbles utilizing any conventional means such as spray nozzles. The enhanced pet food is then emptied from the tumbler [3] using the funnel [7] into the pet food bag [6]. A new nutritional profile is then generated by the OFC based upon the nutritional components of the kibbles and enhancers utilized and attached to the pet food bag [6].
While the preferred embodiments have been shown and described, it will be understood that there is no intent to limit the invention by such disclosure, but rather, is intended to cover all modifications and alternate constructions falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.
This application is a second division of application Ser. No. 14/120,029 for which a patent was granted, U.S. Pat. No. 9,747,625 (“Parent Application”), which claims the benefit of the filing date for Provisional Application No. 61/854,224, filed Apr. 19, 2013. The first division of the Parent Application is application Ser. No. 15/731,712, for which a notice of allowance has been issued. Claims 1-3 provided below were the original claims 1-3 in the Parent application as well as claims 1-3 in the first divisional application. Claims 1-3 are the only remaining claims from the Parent Application which have not been prosecuted.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 15731712 | Jul 2017 | US |
| Child | 17803926 | US |
