Do they have food scientists just guessing and checking with taste testers? Or do they know the exact recipe somehow and just tweak it to avoid lawsuits? Or do big box stores require name brands to hand over their recipes as part of a contract to shelf their brand along with their own store brand? Do the name brands try to keep it a secret but they keep getting bested? I have no idea how this works.
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To add to what @nusensei said about patents on recipes:
Recipes for food products are indeed trade secrets, but manufacturers do not have the option to patent them. For whatever reason patent law does not include recipes.
Printed recipes, like in a cookbook, are covered under copyright and trademark law. The most famous example is the Nestle Tollhouse Cookie recipe printed on their chocolate chip bags. You can make the exact recipe and sell it in your store, but you can’t call them Tollhouse Cookies. You also cannot publish the identical recipe, but you can get around that with a small tweak to the ingredients or method.
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