Appeal No. 1998-0370
Application No. 08/568,410
“wherein said composition is aqueous and contains from about 0.5% to about 15% by
weight of detergent surfactant.”
The amount of surfactant contained in detergent compositions is well known to one
of ordinary skill in the art. Kitamura example I-11 describes a detergent composition for
the kitchen which contains 13 percent surfactant. (Column 11, Table I-4). As stated above,
Kitamura discloses that the detergent compositions contain ingredients that are harmless to
the human body. One of ordinary skill in the art equipped with the knowledge of Kitamura,
21 CFR § 173.315 and the descriptions of the prior art would have been motivated to form
detergent compositions containing from about 0.5% to about 15% by weight of surfactant
and employing only components which are generally regarded as safe because the
compositions would be used to clean fruits and
vegetables. As stated above, the prior art discloses components used to clean fruits and
vegetables must not harm humans. Thus, one of ordinary skill in the art, when forming
Kitamura’s composition for washing fruits and vegetables, would have recognized that the
composition should contain ingredients that were not harmful to humans.
II.
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