- Secret ingredient
A secret ingredient is a component of a product that is closely guarded from public disclosure for
competitive advantage . Sometimes the ingredient makes a noticeable difference in the way a product performs, looks or tastes; other times it is used foradvertising puffery . Companies can go to elaborate lengths to maintainsecrecy , repackaging ingredients in one location, partially mixing them in another and relabeling them for shipment to a third, and so on. Secret ingredients are normally notpatent ed because that would result in publishment, but they are protected bytrade secret laws. Employees who need access to the secret are usually required to signnon-disclosure agreement s.Famous secret ingredients
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Merchandise 7X the "secret ingredient" inCoca Cola . The ingredient has remained a secret since its invention in 1886. The description of the ingredient is kept in a vault at theTrust Co. Bank in Atlanta.*
KFC 's Colonel's secret recipe, created byColonel Sanders in the 1930s. Therecipe , which used to be advertised as containing "elevenherb s andspice s", remains locked in a vault inLouisville, Kentucky . [http://www.kfc.com/about/secret.htm]*Special sauce, the variant of
Thousand Island dressing used in the preparation of a McDonald'sBig Mac hamburger .*
Frank's Red Hot , the secret ingredient in the first Buffalo wing sauce.* The "theme ingredient" on the original series "
Iron Chef " (the primary ingredient with which competitors prepare their dishes) is called the "secret ingredient" on the successor series "Iron Chef America ".
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