ALEXANDRIA, Va., July 14 -- United States Patent no. 12,680,043, issued on July 14, was assigned to Atkinson Food Group LLC (Mansfield, La.).

"Nut shell smoke flavoring and/or cooking compositions and methods of fabrication and use thereof" was invented by Newell Atkinson (Mansfield, La.), Brianna Atkinson (Mansfield, La.) and Bryan Atkinson (Mansfield, La.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Nut shell smoke flavoring and/or cooking compositions suitable for imparting smoke flavoring to foods and/or cooking foods may include a final composition product comprising, consisting essentially of, or consisting of compressed nut shell particles derived from nut shells. The final composition product may c...