PACKAGING PRODUCTS, PARTICULARLY FOODS

Abstract: A package is described which consists of a polyester tray (1) having a pre-printed thin polyester film cover (4) sealed to its rim (3). The film cover extends outwardly of the rim and encloses the remainder of the tray or most of it. The film edges (8, 9) may be attached to the outside of the tray (1) and/or to one another. One or more perforation lines (7) outside the area of film tautly sealed to the tray rim may assist removing the film to release the package contents and/or detachment of part of the film bearing, e.g. cooking instructions.

Description: PACKAGING PRODUCTS. PARTICULARLY FOODS This invention relates to packaging products, particularly foods, and is of particular importance in the packaging of prepared or convenience foods in plastics trays. It is not, however, limited to food packaging applications. The fundamental purpose of packaging any item is to protect it during storage and transportation and ensure that the item in question, when needed for use, can be unpacked without difficulty but in perfect condition. In order to achieve this, there is a wide variety of packaging techniques available, but particularly in the case of commodity items, two factors militate against the use of large quantities of packaging. The first is price, since in general terms the more packaging is provided, the greater the cost of the ultimate packaged product to the consumer. The second is the rise of environmental consciousness which has led to identifiable consumer desire for less packaging, particularly having regard to the fact that most packaging is not reusable and is simply thrown away as soon as the product comes to be used. These considerations are particularly acute in the area of pre-packaged foods, particularly where the packaging needs to assist in the sale of those foods e.g. by bearing coloured, eye-catching printed display material on its exterior. One form of packaging which has acquired major significance in recent years for pre-prepared foods, particularly those purchased frozen or suitable for freezing, consists of a plastics tray containing the food product in one or more compartments, a plastics film or other foil covering the tray and sealed thereto and an outer card sleeve usually bearing a pictorial illustration of the food product in question together with other conventional labelling detail, such as directions for serving, lists of ingredients and manufacturer's data. This form of packaging has been widely adopted, particularly for so-called "convenience foods" but it is expensive both in terms of the raw materials it consumes and in terms of the design of automatic machinery to place the food in the trays, place the lid on the filled tray, and place the assembly of tray and lid inside the card sleeve. According to the present invention there is provided a method of packaging an item which comprises providing a polyester plastics tray having one or more item receiving cavity(ies) and a generally planar rim, placing the item(s) in the cavity(ies), applying a sealable polyester film cover over the cavities and sealing it around the rim, wherein the film cover applied is of thickness not greater than 50 microns, is dual-ovenable, carries printing on its side remote from the cavity(ies) and is of extent substantially greater than the area defined by the rim to which it is sealed to close the cavity(ies) and to lie taut across the planar rim, and wherein areas of the film not covering the cavity(ies) are folded around the periphery of the tray and attached to the material of the tray or to one another to form the final package. The invention also includes packages, particularly food containing packages, formed by the method. In this way packages can be formed consisting essentially of two components, tray and film, which do not require any exterior sleeve since the film itself, both that portion covering the cavity or cavities and the remainder, is pre-printed with appropriate pictorial material and/or written information. It is preferred that the film is of sufficient size to form at least a complete sleeve around the tray, but it is a matter of choice (and expense) as to whether the sleeve has open ends or whether, for example on a generally rectangular tray, areas of the film outside of the rim are folded down round both the sides and the ends of the tray or just around the sides. The portions of film which lie outside the rim around the tray cavity may be attached to the exterior of the tray itself or, for example, may be of sufficient size that when folded down and round the tray opposed edges of a film overlap and can be attached together. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the film has lines of perforations which, when the film is sealed to the tray, lie just below the edges of the tray. This enables the film to be removed save over the cavity, e.g. prior to placing the tray in an oven (conventional or microwave) , the portion removed preferably bearing the cooking instructions. A very wide variety of polyester tray and sealing film materials is already known and commercially available for use in packages in accordance with the present invention. The sealing films are often of multi-layer construction in order to provide the desired combination of properties including adequate strength and tear resistance, thermal resistance (for films designed to be placed with the tray in an oven to heat food product inside) , ease of sealing to the tray and the like. In particular, the sealing film may be designed to be peelable from the tray rim, in the cold (for use on packages where the content is intended to be removed while still frozen) or only when hot (e.g. at the end of a heating period in a conventional or microwave oven during which the film should not peel away from the rim) . When practising the present invention, the sealing film stock is pre-printed, usually with a repeated image on a continuous web, and means are provided when using the stock to ensure that each pre-printed image aligns appropriately with each tray, e.g. by matching the repeat length to the container pitch on an automated tray filling and lidding line. Using appropriate printing techniques high quality multi-colour printing may be applied without difficulty to the side of the film which will be the exterior of the package when made. Care should of course be taken to use inks for the production of the printed image which are not liable to discolour e.g. when the film is heat sealed to the rim of the tray. The present invention may be put into practice by hand for special cases, or using automated machinery. It is preferred that the machinery is fed with supplies of the articles or materials to be packaged, a supply of trays and a continuous supply of pre-printed film and that in a single pass the trays are filled, the film sealed round the rim, portions of the film outside the tray edge are then bent round and down and sealed to one another or to the tray, all automatically. Alternatively it is possible to envisage tray filling and the sealing of the film thereto on a single machine which would also cut the film from a continuous web into sections, with the portions of the film projecting pass the tray edge and not covering the tray cavity then being positioned and attached to the sides or underside of the tray in a second operation. The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing which shows diagrammatically a package according to the invention, in section. As can be seen, the package consists basically of a polyester plastics tray 1 containing a portion of food 2. The top of the tray has a generally horizontal rim 3 to which has been heat sealed one side of a cover film 4. The cover film extends not only tautly across the tray cavity but about the sides of the tray at 5 and 6 and underneath the tray. The two film edges 8 and 9 overlap. Film edge 9 may be sealed down to edge 8 and edge 8 may if desired additionally be sealed onto the underside of the tray. The exterior of the film may bear appropriate printed matter, both on the part covering the cavity, as well as on the sides at 5 and 6 and on the parts adjacent the floor of the tray. Preferably, the film 4 has a line of perforations on one or both sides located just below rim 3. One perforation line is preferred if film 4 is to be removed before food 2 is heated, as the free area of film released by tearing along the perforation gives a good grip for detaching the entire film from the tray. If the food is to be heated covered, two perforation lines 7 may be provided, one each side. Compared with a conventional tray/foil/outer card sleeve construction of known type, the package illustrated saves both direct cost (by eliminating the outer sleeve) and indirect cost (by requiring less assembly stages). In addition, the ratio of the weight of the packaging to the weight of the product drops, as does the absolute gross weight of the package for a given net content weight, thus improving the efficiency of transportation and/or lowering transport costs. Even if absolute savings are very small in monetary terms on each package, because the numbers of packages e.g. for freezable pre-prepared meals, are very large, manufacturers and vendors of such items may make substantial savings by adopting the packaging method of the present invention.

Claims: CLAIMS 1. A method of packaging an item which comprises providing a method of packaging an item which comprises providing a polyester plastics tray having one or more item receiving cavity(ies) and a generally planar rim, placing the item(s) in the cavity(ies), applying a sealable polyester film cover over the cavities and sealing it around the rim, wherein the film cover applied is of thickness not greater than 50 microns, is dual- ovenable, carries printing on its side remote from the cavity(ies) and is of extent substantially greater than the area defined by the rim to which it is sealed to close the cavity(ies) and to lie taut across the planar rim, and wherein areas of the film not covering the cavity(ies) are folded around the periphery of the tray and attached to the material of the tray or to one another to form the final package. 2. A method according to Claim 1, wherein the film is of sufficient size to form at least a complete sleeve around the tray. 3. A method according to Claim 1 or 2 and including the stages of attaching the portions of film which lie outside the rim around the tray cavity to the exterior of the tray itself . 4. A method according to any one of Claims 1 to 3 wherein the film is a sealing film of multi-layer construction. 5. A method according to any one of Claims 1 to 4 wherein the film is provided pre-printed with a repeated image on a continuous web, and each image is aligned with each tray prior to sealing and thereafter the section of film sealed to the tray is separated from the web. 6. A method according to any one of Claims 1 to 5 wherein the sealing film has one or more lines of perforation positioned to lie outside the area of film tautly spanning the cavity. 7. A package made by the method of any one of the preceding Claims.

Inventors: CHUDLEY ROBIN WILLIAM, LOCKHART ALAN THOMAS, CHUDLEY, ROBIN, WILLIAM, LOCKHART, ALAN, THOMAS
Applicants: CHUDLEY ROBIN WILLIAM, FFP PACKAGING SOLUTIONS LIMITE, LOCKHART ALAN THOMAS, CHUDLEY, ROBIN, WILLIAM, FFP PACKAGING SOLUTIONS LIMITED, LOCKHART, ALAN, THOMAS
Application year: 1996
Main classification: B65D77
IPC codes: B65D77