Food Issues and Trade Secrets

Can I get a patent for food items? PDF Print E-mail
The genral answer to that question is no.  However, you can create a trade secret if you want to build your food business off of an old family recipe, or a new innovation. Trade secrets can last longer than patents, but extensive steps must be taken to protect them. Particularly for food items, trade secrets can be secretly discovered by other people. Once a trade secret is made public, the value of the trade secret is gone.