Opinion ID: 692778
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Tumble Marination

Text: 14 Hutchison's process calls for tumble marinating the chicken in a commercially available tumble marinator, which brings out a natural protein gel in the chicken, which in turn coats the chicken with a tacky substance that acts as a substitute skin and helps the breading to adhere to the meat. Hutchison disclosed to KFC that the chicken was tumble marinated with commercially available equipment to create a substitute skin, but Hutchison did not reveal the contents of the marinade. 15 Hutchison has not rebutted KFC's claim that it has been tumble marinating certain product lines (e.g., Extra Crispy Chicken) since the mid-1970s. For its skinfree chicken product, KFC initially used a tumble marination procedure, but at the end of 1991, KFC switched to an injection marination system. 16 Because tumble marination was already known to and used by KFC and others in the industry, and because tumble marinators were commercially available, the concept cannot be proprietary to Hutchison. Hutchison's specific marinade was not disclosed and therefore could not be misappropriated.