Patent Application 17325201 - Puffed Cheese Product and Method - Rejection

Patent Application 17325201 - Puffed Cheese Product and Method

Title: Puffed Cheese Product and Method

Application Information

• Invention Title: Puffed Cheese Product and Method
• Application Number: 17325201
• Submission Date: 2025-05-22T00:00:00.000Z
• Effective Filing Date: 2021-05-19T00:00:00.000Z
• Filing Date: 2021-05-19T00:00:00.000Z
• National Class: 426
• National Sub-Class: 036000
• Examiner Employee Number: 85639
• Art Unit: 1793
• Tech Center: 1700

Rejection Summary

• 102 Rejections: 0
• 103 Rejections: 2

Cited Patents

The following patents were cited in the rejection:

• US 0083842🔗
• US 0266712🔗
• US 4803090🔗

Office Action Text

    DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA  or AIA  Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
This office action was written in response to the Applicants Remarks filed 4/22/25.  
Claims 1-17, and 19-21 are pending in this action and have been examined on the merits.  Claim 18 was previously cancelled. 
Withdrawn Rejections
The 112 2nd rejections of claims 1-17, 19 and 21 have been withdrawn due to the amendment to the independent claims.
The 103(a) rejections of claims 1, 3-11, 17, and 20 over Miller (US 2006/0083842) have been withdrawn.
The 103(a) rejections of claims 2 and 8 over Miller et al (US 2006/0083842) and in further view of Schlipalius et al (US 4803090) have been withdrawn for being redundant to claims being maintained.
The 103(a) rejections of claims 12-14 over Miller (US 2006/0083842) in view of “Moon Cheese” June 5 2019 have been withdrawn.
The 103(a) rejection of claim 15 over Miller (US 2006/0083842) in view of “Moon Cheese” June 5 2019.

Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 112
The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of 35 U.S.C. 112(a):
(a) IN GENERAL.—The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor or joint inventor of carrying out the invention.

The following is a quotation of the first paragraph of pre-AIA  35 U.S.C. 112:
The specification shall contain a written description of the invention, and of the manner and process of making and using it, in such full, clear, concise, and exact terms as to enable any person skilled in the art to which it pertains, or with which it is most nearly connected, to make and use the same, and shall set forth the best mode contemplated by the inventor of carrying out his invention.

Claims 1-10, 12-17, 19 and 21 a rejected under 35 U.S.C. 112(a) or 35 U.S.C. 112 (pre-AIA ), first paragraph, as failing to comply with the written description requirement. The claims contains subject matter which was not described in the specification in such a way as to reasonably convey to one skilled in the relevant art that the inventor or a joint inventor, or for applications subject to pre-AIA  35 U.S.C. 112, the inventor(s), at the time the application was filed, had possession of the claimed invention. Claims 1, 12, 15, and 16 have been amended to recite that there is no emulsifying salt.  The Examiner notes that this qualification was meant in relation to further steps of producing cheese powder. The absence of emulsifying salt was mentioned once and in relation to a cheese powder not the puffed cheese product.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The text of those sections of Title 35, U.S. Code not included in this action can be found in a prior Office action.
Claims 1-15, 17, and 20 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Miller (US 2006/0083842) in view of Schlipalius et al (US 4803090).
Regarding Claims 1 and 7: Miller discloses a method for making a shelf stable puffed crispy cheese snack [0012].  Miller discloses the method comprising the steps of a) forming at least one cheese into cheese pieces having a thickness of from about 2 mm to about 5 mm (para [0023; 0056]; b) dehydrating the cheese pieces to form cheese pieces having a reduced moisture content before puffing by dehydrating the cheese...The duration of heat application for partially dehydrating the cheese may vary depending on the original moisture content and the shape and size of the cheese pieces. Miller discloses dehydrating from 45-50 percent to 16-20 percent moisture content [0062]; c) Miller discloses puffing the dehydrated cheese pieces using dielectric heating in the form of microwave heating to form cheese puffs (para [0012; 0047; 0055; 0062].  Miller discloses wherein the starting cheese material or base cheese as cheddar or mozzarella [0019; 0024]. Miller discloses a puffing process that does not use negative pressure.  Miller does not require the presence of emulsifying salts and discloses them as optional [0021].
Miller does not measure the water activity and therefore does not specifically disclose wherein the dehydrated cheese pieces have a water activity of from about 0.60 to about 0.95.  
However, it would have been obvious to anyone of ordinary skill in the art for the dehydrated cheese pieces to have a water activity from about 0.60 to about 0.95 through routine experimentation because by having a water activity within this range would maintain a level of moisture in the cheese giving a softer texture.
Schlipalius discloses a method of making a puffed cheese product containing processed or natural cheese [col. 1, lines 18-22; col. 2, lines 8-12; claim 1].  Schlipalius discloses where the cheese is Cheddar, Swiss, Colby, and Monterrey jack cheese [col. 6, lines 10-13].  Schlipalius discloses subjecting sliced or diced natural or processed cheese to a baking/drying step followed by a microwave puffing step [claim 1].
At the effective filing date of the invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Miller to substitute the cheese of Miller for the Cheddar, Colby, Swiss, or Monterey of Schlipalius in order to provide a puffed cheese with more authentic flavor and less ingredients.  It would have been obvious to anyone of ordinary skill in the art to select full or partial or low fat version of Cheddar cheese, Colby, Swiss, or Monterey cheese through routine experimentation.
Regarding Claim 2:  Miller as modified discloses a method of claim 1, but does not specifically disclose wherein the step of dehydrating the cheese pieces produces cheese pieces with a moisture gradient decreasing from the inside to the outside of the cheese pieces and a resulting skin covering the surface of each cheese piece.  
However, Schlipalius et al disclose a similar method for producing a puffed cheese snack wherein the step of dehydrating the cheese pieces produces cheese pieces with a moisture gradient decreasing from the inside to the outside of the cheese pieces and a resulting skin covering the surface of each cheese piece (example 3, col 4, In 50-58, "...Puffed cheese snacks were produced from processed cheddar cheese...have been sliced or diced, were baked in a convection oven until the cheese was partially dried, forming a hardened surface skin (135 C., 30 minutes). This partially dried product was then microwaved to less than 2% moisture...").
  It would have been obvious to anyone of ordinary skill in the art that to use the dehydration conditions as disclosed by Schlipalius to produce cheese pieces with a moisture gradient decreasing from the inside to the outside of the cheese pieces and a resulting skin covering the surface of each cheese piece through routine experimentation because dehydrating food commonly results in moisture gradient decreasing from the inside to the outside and a resulting skin covering the surface (see document entitled "Best Practices of Dehydration" to LEM page 3, "... Always remember that drying at a lower temperature for a longer period of time is better than higher temperatures with shorter cooking times. High temperature causes the exterior of the product to form a shell and inhibits the interior
of the product from drying...").
Regarding Claim 3:  Miller discloses a method of claim 1.  Miller discloses the formation of a skin to coat each cheese piece while lower temperatures are used to remove moisture and frequent handling prevents the cheese pieces from adhering to each other (para [0028], "... This reduced moisture content makes the cheese base more "plastic-like" with a less rubbery-like texture. As a result, the reduced-moisture cheese precursor pieces can be handled, coated, tempered, and stored before being cooked without the different pieces sticking together at lower handling temperatures such as room temperature...") but does not specifically disclose wherein the step (b) of dehydrating the cheese‘ pieces is performed as a two-stage process, with stage 2 being a further dehydration period at higher temperatures to achieve target‘ moistures, water activities, and skin thicknesses.  However, it would have been obvious to anyone of ordinary skill in the art for the dehydration process disclosed by Miller to be performed as a two stage process with stage 2 being a further dehydration period at higher temperatures to achieve target moistures, water activities, and skin thicknesses through routine experimentation because higher drying/dehydrating temperatures are commonly used in achieve target moistures, water activities, and skin thicknesses (see document entitled “Best Practices of Dehydration” to LEM page 2, “...Drying times will vary depending on the room temperature, relative humidity and moisture levels in the food that you are drying. If the moisture level is high, the drying time will be on the high end of the range..."; page 3, "...High temperature causes the exterior of the product to form a shell and inhibits the interior of the product from drying...").
Regarding Claim 4:  Miller discloses as discussed above in claim 1.  Miller discloses puffing the dehydrated cheese pieces using dielectric heating in the form of microwave heating to form cheese puffs (para [0012; 0047; 0055; 0062].
Regarding Claim 5:  Miller discloses a method of claim 1, but does not specifically disclose wherein the dielectric heating is radio frequency heating.  However, it would have been obvious to anyone of ordinary skill in the art the dielectric heating to be radio frequency heating through routine experimentation because Miller discloses that any form of dielectric heating can be used [0049].
Regarding Claim 6:  Miller discloses a method of claim 1 wherein the cheese precursor pieces may be provided in wafer-like, cube-like, squares, stars rectangles, circles, ovals, or other shapes as well as mixed or non-uniform shapes [0023; 0025; 0056].
Regarding Claim 8:  Miller discloses a method of claim 1.  Miller does not disclose a specific example or embodiment wherein the cheese puffs further comprise one or more inclusions. However, based on Millers disclosure it would have been obvious to anyone of ordinary skill in the art for the cheese puffs further comprise one or more inclusions through routine experimentation.
However, Schlipalius et al disclose a similar method for producing a puffed cheese snack and discloses adding cereal, or vegetable, or fruit, etc.. components (inclusions) [col. 1, lines 32-35].
At the effective filing date of the invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Miller to further include inclusions as in Schlipalius in order to provide additional flavor and/or texture to the cheese product.
Regarding Claim 9: Miller discloses a method of claim 1 wherein the cheese puffs further comprise one or more coatings (para [0013], "... (4) puffing the tempered coated pieces to form the shelf-stable savory crispy puffed cheese product.  Preferably the polysaccharide used to provide the polysaccharide coated pieces is in a powdered form..."; example 1, para (0056), "...The 1 square inch pieces were pan coated by sprinkling with the coating (or in the case of lecithin, spraying on a commercial preparation, viz. PAM(R)), and then shaking and flipping the pieces on a baking pan. The coating rate was approximately 15 mg/cm on each face of the cheese pieces...").
Regarding Claim 10:  Miller discloses a method of claim 1, wherein the at least one cheese has a reduced fat content (para [0022], "...In one embodiment, the cheese precursor pieces are formed from low fat process type cheese. For purposes herein, "low fat” can encompass "reduced-fat" or "no-fat cheeses"..."; para [0013], "... The present invention also provides a method for preparing a shelf-stable savory crispy puffed cheese product, said method comprising (1) providing low fat cheese pre cursor pieces containing about 12 to about 24 percent moisture and having Surfaces..."), but does not specifically disclose the specific fat content and therefor does not disclose a fat content with a targeted fat dry basis (FDB) of from about 5 to about 40%. Nor does Miller disclose wherein at least one cheese is a cheese having no detectable residual sugar by 2 months of age.  However, it would have been obvious to anyone of ordinary skill in the art for the for the cheese disclosed by Miller to have no detectable residual sugar by 2 months of age because residual sugar could lead to undesirable chemical reactions as browning (see US 8,163,317 B2 to Soe et al. col 2, In 18-22, "... The browning effect from mozzarella cheese is typically caused by residual amount of reducing sugars lactose and galactose left from the cheese production.  Therefore, many attempts to reduce the browning reactions of mozzarella have been based on attempts to reduce the levels of these Sugars..."). Based on Miller’s disclosure it would have also been obvious to anyone of ordinary skill in the art for the fat content with a targeted fat dry basis (FDB) of from about 5 to about 40% through routine experimentation (para [0013], "...(1) providing low fat cheese pre cursor pieces containing about 12 to about 24 percent moisture..."; para [0022], "... In one aspect, the cheese precursor material is a cheese base having less than 10 percent fat content, particularly less than 5 percent fat..."; it is reasonably understood that the fat content with a targeted fat dry basis (FDB) for 5% fat and 12-24% moisture is anywhere from 5.7%- 6.6%).
Regarding Claim 11: Miller discloses a method of claim 1.  Miller does not specifically disclose a further step of milling the cheese puffs to produce cheese powder from the cheese puffs. 
However, it would have been obvious to anyone of ordinary skill in the art to include a further step of milling the cheese puffs disclosed by miller to produce a finer powdered cheese product through routine experimentation.
Regarding Claim 12:  Miller discloses a method for making puffed cheese snacks (para [0012], "... The present invention provides a method for preparing a shelf-stable savory crispy puffed cheese product...") comprising the steps of a) forming at least one cheese into cheese pieces having a thickness of from about 0.5mm to about 3 inches (para [0023}, “... The thickness of the cheese precursor pieces should be thick enough to permit a dried crispy wafer to be formed upon rapid heat cooking, yet not so thin that the cheese burns easily if overcooked. Generally, the thickness will be about 2 to about 5 mm..."; example 1, para [0056], "...Kraft Pasteurized American Fat Free Singles were cut into nine (9) pieces each (approximately 1 Square inch (2.54x2.54 cm))..."); b) dehydrating the cheese pieces by convection heating at a dehydration temperature of from about 65 to about 170 degrees Fahrenheit for a time period of from about 10 minutes to about 8 hours (para [0029], "...Referring to step 103, if the original moisture content of the cheese precursor pieces exceeds the above indicated desired moisture range values, the moisture levels preferably are reduced to the desired moisture range values before puffing by dehydrating the cheese...The duration of heat application for partially dehydrating the cheese may vary depending on the original moisture content and the shape and size of the cheese pieces. For example, process cheese pieces of about 25x25x2 mm may be dehydrated from 45-50 percent to 16-20 percent moisture content by convective oven drying for about 3-5 hours using forced air continuously blown over the cheese pieces at about 40 deg C..."; example 1, para [0062], "...Samples were dried four (4) hours in a convection oven at 40 deg C..."; it is reasonably understood that 40 deg C is equivalent to 104 deg F); and c) puffing the dehydrated cheese pieces using dielectric heating to form cheese puffs (para (0047, "... To puff the cheese precursor pieces in a microwave oven or similar microwave heating system commonly used..."; example 1, para [0055], "... before being puffed via rapid heating in a microwave oven..."; example 1, para [0062], "... The coated pieces for each test sample were covered with a microwave Susceptor, yet remained open to the atmosphere to vent off steam during puffing, and were subjected to microwave energy for about 38 to 40 seconds in a microwave oven operating at 900 Watts..."; it is reasonably understood that microwave heating is a form of dielectric heating see instant specification para [0012], "...the dielectric heating step can be performed using a method selected from the group consisting of microwave heating...").  Miller discloses wherein the at least one cheese is cheddar, mozzarella [0019; 0024].  Miller discloses that the fat content of the cheese used to produce the puffed cheese can be 0 to 20% [0031]. Miller discloses a puffing process that does not use negative pressure. Miller does not require the presence of emulsifying salts and discloses them as optional [0021].
Schlipalius discloses a method of making a puffed cheese product containing processed or natural cheese [col. 1, lines 18-22; col. 2, lines 8-12; claim 1].  Schlipalius discloses where the cheese is Cheddar, Swiss, Colby, and Monterrey jack cheese [col. 6, lines 10-13].  Schlipalius discloses subjecting sliced or diced natural or processed cheese to a baking/drying step followed by a microwave puffing step [claim 1].
At the effective filing date of the invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Miller to substitute the cheese of Miller for the Cheddar, Colby, Swiss, or Monterey of Schlipalius in order to provide a puffed cheese with more authentic flavor and less ingredients.  It would have been obvious to anyone of ordinary skill in the art to select full or partial or low fat version of Cheddar cheese, Colby, Swiss, or Monterey cheese through routine experimentation.
Regarding the fat content, although Miller does not explicitly disclose a fat content of 14 to 18% one having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention would have considered the invention to have been obvious because the range taught by Miller overlaps the instantly claimed range and therefore is considered to establish a prima facie case of obviousness.
Regarding Claim 13:  Miller discloses a method of claim 12.  Miller discloses that the Samples were dried four (4) hours in a convection oven at 40 deg C..."; it is reasonably understood that 40°C is equivalent to 104°F) [0062].
Regarding Claim 14: Miller discloses a method of claim 12.  Miller discloses that the Samples were dried four (4) hours in a convection oven at 40 deg C..."; it is reasonably understood that 40°C is equivalent to 104°F) [0062]. 
Regarding Claim 15: Miller discloses a method for making a shelf stable puffed crispy cheese snack[0012].  Miller discloses the method comprising the steps of a) forming at least one cheese into cheese pieces having a thickness of from about 2 mm to about 5 mm (para [0023; 0056]; b) dehydrating the cheese pieces to form cheese pieces having a reduced moisture content before puffing by dehydrating the cheese...The duration of heat application for partially dehydrating the cheese may vary depending on the original moisture content and the shape and size of the cheese pieces. Miller discloses dehydrating from 45-50 percent to 16-20 percent moisture content [0062]; c) Miller discloses puffing the dehydrated cheese pieces using dielectric heating in the form of microwave heating to form cheese puffs (para [0012; 0047; 0055; 0062].  Miller discloses that the fat content of the cheese used to produce the puffed cheese can be 0 to 20% [0031]. Miller discloses a puffing process that does not use negative pressure. Miller does not require the presence of emulsifying salts and discloses them as optional [0021].
Miller does not measure the water activity and therefore does not specifically disclose wherein the dehydrated cheese pieces have a water activity of from about 0.60 to about 0.95.  
Miller does not explicitly disclose “natural” cheese.
Schlipalius discloses a method of making a puffed cheese product containing processed or natural cheese [col. 1, lines 18-22; col. 2, lines 8-12; claim 1].  Schlipalius discloses where the cheese is Cheddar, Swiss, Colby, and Monterrey jack cheese [col. 6, lines 10-13].  Schlipalius discloses subjecting sliced or diced natural or processed cheese to a baking/drying step followed by a microwave puffing step [claim 1].
At the effective filing date of the invention it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art to modify the method of Miller to substitute the cheese of Miller for the Cheddar, Colby, Swiss, or Monterey of Schlipalius in order to provide a puffed cheese with more authentic flavor and less ingredients.  It would have been obvious to anyone of ordinary skill in the art to select full or partial or low fat version of Cheddar cheese, Colby, Swiss, or Monterey cheese through routine experimentation.
Regarding the fat content, although Miller does not explicitly disclose a fat content of 14 to 18% one having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention would have considered the invention to have been obvious because the range taught by Miller overlaps the instantly claimed range and therefore is considered to establish a prima facie case of obviousness.
Regarding Claim 17:  Miller discloses the method of claim 1.  Miller does not disclose that the water activity is from .80 to .90.  However, it would have been obvious to anyone of ordinary skill in the art for the dehydrated cheese pieces to have a water activity from about 0.80 to about 0.90 through routine experimentation because by having a water activity within this range would maintain a level of moisture in the cheese giving a softer texture.
Regarding Claim 20:  Miller discloses the method of claim 1.  Miller discloses that the fat content of the cheese used to produce the puffed cheese can be 0 to 20% [0031].
Although Miller does not explicitly disclose a fat content of 14 to 18% one having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention would have considered the invention to have been obvious because the range taught by Miller overlaps the instantly claimed range and therefore is considered to establish a prima facie case of obviousness.   
Claims 16, 19, and 21 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Chudy et al  ("Application of microwave vacuum drying for snack production: Characteristics of pure cheese puffs”) in view of Schlipalius et al (US 4803090).
 	Regarding Claim 16: Chudy et al disclose a puffed cheese product comprising at least about 50 percent natural cheese (page 82, abstract, ",.. The aim of the study was to obtain and describe crispy snacks purely made of cheese (also referred to as ‘pure’ cheese snacks) using microwave vacuum drying technology..."; page 83, col 1, para 4, "... The aim of this work was to obtain and describe a new type of Harzer cheese snack in the form of cheese puffs purely made of cheese..."), the product having a water activity in the range of from about 0.15 to about 0.80 (page 85, col 2, para [4]"... The puffs obtained as a result of our research had a water activity of 0.35...") and a fat content with a targeted fat dry basis (FDB) of about 1.4% (page 85, col 1, RESULTS AND DISCUSSION, para [1], "...and the puffs by 4.0% water, 81.9% protein and 1.4 %fat content...").  Harzer is a natural cheese and Chudy does not disclose the inclusion of emulsifying salts.
The claim differs wherein the fat content with a targeted fat dry basis (FDB) is from about 5 to about 40% or the moisture gradient.
Schlipalius et al disclose a puffed cheese snack with a hardened skin surface [col. 3, lines 53-57]; wherein the step of dehydrating the cheese pieces produces cheese pieces with a moisture gradient decreasing from the inside to the outside of the cheese pieces and a resulting skin covering the surface of each cheese piece (example 3, col 4, In 50-58, "...Puffed cheese snacks were produced from processed cheddar cheese...have been sliced or diced, were baked in a convection oven until the cheese was partially dried, forming a hardened surface skin (135 C., 30 minutes). This partially dried product was then microwaved to less than 2% moisture..."). Schlipalius discloses using natural or processed cheese [col. 1, lines 20-24].
It would have been obvious to anyone of ordinary skill in the art to select a higher fat containing starting natural cheese material in order to produce a puffed cheese product with a fat content targeted fat dry basis (FDB) of about 5 to about 40% through routine experimentation.  It would have been obvious to anyone of ordinary skill in the art that to use the dehydration conditions as disclosed by Schlipalius to produce natural cheese pieces with a moisture gradient decreasing from the inside to the outside of the cheese pieces and a resulting skin covering the surface of each cheese piece through routine experimentation because dehydrating food commonly results in moisture gradient decreasing from the inside to the outside and a resulting skin covering the surface (see document entitled "Best Practices of Dehydration" to LEM page 3, "... Always remember that drying at a lower temperature for a longer period of time is better than higher temperatures with shorter cooking times. High temperature causes the exterior of the product to form a shell and inhibits the interior of the product from drying...").
Further regarding the process steps of the claim, since there is no evidence that the recited process produces a product that is materially different from what is disclosed in the prior art, claim 16 has been considered regarding its disclosure of puffed product comprising natural cheese.
 “Even though product-by-process claims are limited by and defined by the process, determination of patentability is based on the product itself.  The patentability of a product does not depend on its method of production.  If the product in the product-by-process claim is the same as or obvious from a product of the prior art, the claim is unpatentable even though the prior art was made by a different process.”  In re Thorpe, 777 F.2d 695, 698.
Regarding Claim 19:  Chudy discloses a method of claim 16.  Chudy discloses wherein the cheese precursor pieces may be provided in cuboids (cube-like, squares) [pg. 83 “Microwave vacuum drying”].
Regarding Claim 21:  Chudy as modified discloses the method of claim 16.  Chudy does not disclose that the fat content of the cheese used to produced puffed cheese can be 14 to 18%.
Schlipalius discloses making a puffed cheese snack using natural cheese [abstract]. Schlipalius discloses using natural cheese having a fat content of 17 to 34% [abstract; claim 1].
At the effective filing date of the invention it would have been obvious to modify the cheese of Chudy for the cheese of Schlipalius in order to provide desirable organoleptic properties.
Although Schlipalius does not explicitly disclose a fat content of 14 to 18% one having ordinary skill in the art at the effective filing date of the invention would have considered the invention to have been obvious because the range taught by Schlipalius overlaps the instantly claimed range and therefore is considered to establish a prima facie case of obviousness.   
Response to Arguments
The 112 2nd rejections of claims 1-17, 19 and 21 have been withdrawn due to the amendment to the independent claims.
The 103(a) rejections of claims 1, 3-11, 17, and 20 over Miller (US 2006/0083842) have been withdrawn.
The 103(a) rejections of claims 2 and 8 over Miller et al (US 2006/0083842) and in further view of Schlipalius et al (US 4803090) have been withdrawn for being redundant to claims being maintained.
The 103(a) rejections of claims 12-14 over Miller (US 2006/0083842) in view of “Moon Cheese” June 5 2019 have been withdrawn.
The 103(a) rejection of claim 15 over Miller (US 2006/0083842) in view of “Moon Cheese” June 5 2019.
The Applicants assert that it would not have been obvious to utilize the process of Miller with natural cheese.  The Applicants assert that Schlipalius discourages the use of natural cheese.
The Examiner maintains that it would have been obvious to modified natural cheese for processed cheese especially where Miller discloses the use of natural cheeses as a base in the process. The Applicants own specification which uses the same process as Miller discloses that the term “cheese” should be broadly construed to include standard cheese and cheese-like products  [Applicants specification 17/325,201 paragraph 0030].  Further, the Examiner maintains that Schlipalius discloses applying the process to both processed and  natural cheese as discussed in the above rejection. It is not clear why the process which Applicants assert only works on processed cheese would not work on natural cheese.
Regarding the rejection of the claims under Chudy, the Examiner maintains that claim 16 is a product claim and Applicants amendment is a process amendment and therefore does not limit the claim.      
For the reasons discussed above, the 103(a) rejections of the claims over Miller (US 2006/0083842) in view of Schlipalius et al (US 4803090) and the 103(a) rejections of claims 16, 19, and 21 over Chudy et al. in view of Schlipalius et al (US 4803090) have been maintained.
Pertinent Prior Art
The prior art made of record and not relied upon is considered pertinent to applicant's disclosure:
 Shrestha et al. (US 2013/0266712) discloses a method of making a pet chew from hardened cheese [abstract].  Shrestha discloses drying out the cheese and then microwaving the dried hardened cheese to provide a puffed cheese [0037-0045]. 
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to FELICIA C TURNER whose telephone number is (571)270-3733. The examiner can normally be reached Mon-Thu 8:00-4:00 pm.
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/Felicia C Turner/Primary Examiner, Art Unit 1793