Gastronomy and the development of new food products: Technological prospection

Abstract

The search for new practices to meet consumer demand in the food market has become very important in the field of new product development (NPD) within gastronomy. Prospective studies may help understand this issue in the context of intellectual property protection. Therefore, this review aims to analyze the insertion of gastronomy in the development of new food products in the technological context. A total of 921 patent documents were selected from the Espacenet® and National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI) databases. The primary International Patent Classification codes identified were A23, A61, and A21, with most documents being invention patents focused on the food industry, divided into four groups: (i) new food product development, (ii) processes/techniques aimed at new product development, (iii) development of new machines/devices and objects for the food industry, and (iv) chemical agents development for application in the food industry. 2003 to 2022 was the period with the highest number of patent documents filed. China dominated the international geographic patenting scenario with 130 patents, whereas at the INPI, the number of documents deposited in Brazil was 182. The most outstanding inventors at Espacenet® were Zhao Yuncai and Li Na, whereas at INPI, they were Sâmela Leal Barros and Juliana Minardi Galo. At Espacenet®, independent depositors stood out (54.8%), while at INPI, the most prominent contributors were teaching/research institutions (45.8%). The results showed increasing patenting trend in the gastronomy field and new food product development, which provides an insight into potential trends in industrial and technological research development in the food sector.