SEATTLE — The number of patents granted and published globally for healthy snacks should increase in 2021 when compared to the past four years, according to Sagacious IP, which works with companies, law firms and other institutions on intellectual property.

By November of this year, 507 patents related to healthy snacks had been granted and published, almost matching the 509 granted and published for all of 2020. Patents granted and published for healthy snacks were 653 for 2016, 477 for 2017, 509 for 2018 and 497 for 2019. Since it takes a patent about 18 months to get granted and published, the data from 2020 and onwards do not include all the patents that eventually will be granted and published, according to Sagacious IP, which has US offices in Seattle and Chicago.

Leading International Patent Classifications from 2016 to 2021 were fruits or vegetables, preparation or treatment thereof at 3,676 followed by using additives at 3,592 and plant extracts, their artificial duplicates or derivatives at 3,285.  Nestle SA, Vevey, Switzerland, filed the highest number of patents (115) from 2016-2021, ahead of second-place Roquette Group, Lestrem, France, at 60. Mondelez International, Inc., Chicago, was third at 59 and followed by PepsiCo, Inc., Purchase, NY, at 58. China was the leading country with 12,876 patents filed from 2016-21, followed by Korea at 718 and the United States at 443.