ALEXANDRIA, Va., Feb. 7 -- Shannon Noreen Murray of Chicago, Sheryl Lynn Cole of Glenview, Ill., Dalip Kumar Nayyar of Grayslake, Ill., and Qadri Mustafa Abdallah of Lake Villa, Ill., have developed a nutritionally superior cheese product comprising at least a first discrete phase and a second discrete phase.

According to the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "The present invention is directed to nutritionally superior cheese products and their methods of manufacture. More particularly, this invention is directed to the manufacture of nutritionally superior cheese products having at least two phases wherein at least one phase is cheese (e.g., process cheese, uncured natural cheese, cured natural cheese, and the like) and at least one phase is a second edible phase (e.g., a cheese different from the first phase, vegetables, meats, mixtures of vegetables and meats, fruit, nuts, and the like)."

An abstract of the invention, released by the Patent Office, said: "The nutritionally superior cheese products of the present invention are prepared by co-extruding the two or more phases such that the use of adhesives or heat to bind the at least two phases is not required. Nutritional supplements (e.g., vitamins, calcium, minerals, and the like) can be incorporated into one or more of the at least two phases."

The inventors were issued U.S. Patent No. 7,172,783 on Feb. 6.

The patent has been assigned to Kraft Foods Holdings Inc., Northfield, Ill.

The original application was filed on Aug. 10, 2004.

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February 7, 2007