Al Benbow of Ketchum, Idaho writes:

I’ve been trying to figure out what the patent they’re talking about on the label that says that my pork chops may contain up to 12% of a patented solution. I’ve searched and I can’t find any food patents that apply.

Al,

I too was puzzled at first. But as it turned out, we were looking in the wrong section. Nowadays it’s possible to patent services and marketing strategies. This is one of the latter. US Patent 20040247763 is titled, “A Process and Method for Selling Salty Water At Meat Prices.” I believe that’s what they’re referring to.