A23K FODDER
Description
Covers formulated animal feeds, pet foods, livestock supplements, and aquaculture feeds designed for specific nutritional or therapeutic purposes. Includes methods for manufacturing, processing, and preparing feed compositions tailored to particular animal species, production stages, or health requirements. The subclass encompasses feed additives (vitamins, minerals, probiotics), specialized formulations for poultry, ruminants, fish, and companion animals, as well as processing techniques such as pelleting, extrusion, and fermentation. Does not extend to general food preservation or human foodstuffs covered under A23B or A23C.
Filing statistics
CPC subclass A23K recorded 75,244 patent applications worldwide between 2013 and 2023. Annual filings grew from 3,450 in 2013 to 5,806 in 2023 (+68%), peaking at 12,525 applications in 2018. The most active applicants in class A23 are NESTLE (5,075 applications), NESTEC (3,916 applications) and DSM IP ASSETS (DUTCH STATE MINES IP ASSETS) (2,558 applications).
Source: EPO PATSTAT, worldwide filings
5 direct subcodes
Child Classifications
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- A23K 10/00 Animal feeding-stuffs
- A23K 20/00 Accessory food factors for animal feeding-stuffs
- A23K 30/00 Processes specially adapted for preservation of materials in order to produce animal feeding-stuffs
- A23K 40/00 Shaping or working-up of animal feeding-stuffs
- A23K 50/00 Feeding-stuffs specially adapted for particular animals
Top Applicants
Top 10 applicants by patent filingsfor class A23, 2013–2023, worldwide · Source: EPO PATSTAT
- NESTLE CH 5,075
- NESTEC CH 3,916
- DSM IP ASSETS (DUTCH STATE MINES IP ASSETS) NL 2,558
- JIANGNAN UNIVERSITY 2,196
- SUNTORY HOLDINGS JP 2,133
- CJ CHEILJEDANG CORPORATION KR 1,842
- CARGILL US 1,708
- REPUBLIC OF KOREA (RURAL DEVELOPMENT ADMINISTRATION) KR 1,341
- CHINESE ACADEMY OF SCIENCES 1,279
- MARS US 1,161