How do you patent a food item?
Ok, so I think I got this really good idea for a sauce type thing, but I'm not sure how to patent it. Anyone know how? I've tried the Invention site things but they say they patent ideas and stuff. Does this idea for a food thing fall into the same category? I know this sounds kinda stupid, but it's worth a shot. 
Comments
You haven't been specific enough about what your item is, but if it is an actual food item (sauce) that you concocted, it would not be patentable -- what you would want is a trade secret on the recipe (e.g. Coca-Cola).
If by "sauce type thing" you mean an apparatus or something to help make sauces, then you may have something. Consult a patent agent (lawyer) and they can help you find out if it's patentable and work with the PTO.
Actually I've seen people patent recipes for sauces; but they're not "trivial recipes". ie. they usually involve some special cooking process or some complicated series of steps. e.g. heat something to 120 degrees for 10 minutes, then deep chill 10 minutes, then add gum arabic etc. that sort of thing.
If it's just a general recipe, eg. put ingredient A into pot, then ingredient B etc. then it's probably not patentable.
Check out http://www.patentengineers.com/ It explains how to patent stuff, and also has some example patents there. The patent process there is probably applicable to what you're thinking of.
you cant patinet a recipie or copyright one all you can do is make your employees sighn a no disclosue contract like kfc etc