Appeal No. 1996-3537
Application No. 08/302,596
The claimed subject matter is directed to a method for
producing a microcapsule flavor delivery system which is in an
oil-in-water-in-oil emulsion. The method involves subjecting
a specific mixture to low shear mixing to provide an oil-in-
water pre-emulsion; subjecting the pre-emulsion to high shear
mixing or sonification to provide an oil-in-water emulsion
having a coating of protein around the internal oil droplets;
mixing the emulsion with a liquefied hard fat; and atomizing
the resulting mixture to form microcapsules having a particle
size of from about 20 microns to about 200 microns.
According to page 4 of the specification, the oil-in-water-in-
oil microcapsules are formed to provide flavor stability in
aqueous products.
The examiner recognizes that “[t]he claims . . . differ
from Moran in the recitation of atomizing the o/w/o emulsion
to form microcapsules [of the claimed sizes].” See Answer,
page 4. The examiner, however, concludes that “[i]t would be
obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to spray the
liquid product of Moran onto or into a food product in order
to flavor it with the cream flavor of example 1.” Id.
On this record, we determine that the examiner’s
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