Partial Coating Pet Food for Texture Variation

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing pet foods lack visual interest and texture variation, leading to unimproved palatability due to a uniform appearance and texture at the beginning of chewing.

Innovation Solution

A pet food comprising a puffed granule base substance with a coating part having a different composition and shape, where the coating part is formed by a composition containing vegetable oil, hardened oil, and powder ingredients, providing a visual and textural change through differences in color, breaking force, and taste.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Shape

If the soft internal component is completely surrounded by the shell component, then the animal food has a double structure, but the visual change is poor and visual interest cannot be increased

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedouble structureVSAvoidvisual change

Core Design Contradiction:

ShapeVSIllumination intensity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies local quality by creating a partial coating structure where the coating part covers only a portion of the base substance surface rather than completely surrounding it. This allows different regions of the pet food to have different properties: the coating part provides one texture and appearance, while the exposed base substance provides another, creating visual interest and texture variation during chewing.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

2Shape

If the soft internal component is completely surrounded by the shell component, then the animal food has a double structure, but the food texture at the beginning of chewing is uniform and a change depending on the food texture is poor

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvedouble structureVSAvoidfood texture uniformity

Core Design Contradiction:

ShapeVSStability of the object's composition

Solution Approach 1:

The patent creates local quality differences by having the coating part cover only a portion of the base substance. This results in non-uniform texture composition where pets experience different textures (soft coating vs. harder base substance) during chewing, improving texture variation and palatability.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The patent segments the pet food structure into distinct regions: a coating part and an exposed base substance part. This segmentation allows each region to contribute differently to the overall chewing experience, with the coating part providing initial soft texture and the exposed base substance providing structural integrity and varied texture as chewing progresses.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #1Segmentation

3Illumination intensity

If a coating part is added to the base substance, then visual and textural changes are improved, but the production process becomes more complex

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvevisual interestVSAvoidproduction process

Core Design Contradiction:

Illumination intensityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies partial action by coating only a portion of the base substance surface rather than the entire surface. This partial coating approach achieves the desired visual and textural effects while reducing the complexity and cost of the coating process compared to complete coverage, as less coating material is needed and the process can be simpler.

Inventive Principle:

Principle #16Partial or excessive action

Data Source

PatentEP3777552B1Pet food, granular pet food, and method for producing pet food

Publication Date: 2024.11.27 UNI CHARM CORP

Figure 1A~2
Figure 3

AI summary

A pet food is provided, including a base substance and a coating part that coats a part of the base substance, in which a part of the base substance is exposed and a component composition of the base substance and a component composition of the coating part are different from each other.