Appeal No. 2005-1672
Application No. 09/833,866
the pressurization, hold, and release cycle according
to the invention. Alternatively to NH3 gas, a suitable
pH increasing liquid or solid may be atomized or
otherwise mixed with an approved inert food processing
carrier gas . . . . In this case the pH increasing
material performs the pH increasing function while the
carrier gas produces the desired physical pressure
effects of damaging microbes in the pressurization,
hold, release cycle. [Emphasis added.]
In other words, we determine that Roth as a whole would have
suggested using an aqueous ammonia hydroxide or ammonia gas to
treat the comminuted meat, thus meeting the claimed requirement
for increasing the moisture content in the comminuted meat as
required by claims 1 and 13. We determine that adding water to
obtain the desired moisture content in the meat as required by
claim 12 would have been well within the ambit of one of ordinary
skill in the art since Roth teaches that the purpose of adding
ammonia gas is to react it with moisture (water) to form a
sufficient amount of an aqueous ammonium hydroxide to obtain a
desired pH. See, e.g., In re Boesch, 617 F.2d 272, 276, 205 USPQ
215, 219 (CCPA 1980)(“[D]iscovery of an optimum value of a result
effective variable in a known process is ordinarily within the
skill of the art”).
In any event, as also indicated by the examiner (Answer,
page 3), Nakayama, like Roth, teaches treating various fowl
meats, including ground meat, with ammonia gas and/or an aqueous
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