Abstract:
A preservation device provides a simple, inexpensive, sanitary, and effective means to preserve a food product, more particularly a cheese product. The device includes four sides and an end to fit over the exposed end of the food or cheese product, there by sealing the product and extending the shelf life and quality of the food or cheese product. A variety of shapes and sizes are provided to correspond to a variety of shapes of food products.

Description:
[0001]     The present invention relates to a food preservation device, and more particularly a cheese preservation device that preserves and maintains the freshness and quality of cheese products from drying out once the cheese product has been opened.  
         [0002]     This invention relates to an improved device and method for preserving and maintaining the freshness and quality of prepared cheese products. In commercial production of prepared cheese products, a variety of sizes and shapes of finished products are over wrapped in foil, polyethylene, waxed paper, plastic or paper, and then may be packed in cardboard packages. These packages are shipped to retail establishments for sale to the public.  
         [0003]     When the packaged cheese product is utilized by the consumer, the over wrap film, paper, or the predominately used foil is torn, cut, ripped or pealed away from the prepared cheese product. A certain amount of cheese is removed for consumption and the remaining cheese is re-wrapped by crushing, folding or squeezing the over wrap around the cheese product. These various methods to protect the quality of the remaining cheese product allow air to enter the package, which is detrimental to the cheese product.  
         [0004]     The appearance and overall quality of the unused portion of cheese product suffers as oxidation takes place and the cheese product darkens, dries out, develops mold, and in general renders a considerable amount of the cheese product to be inedible. The result of this type of closure of the over wrap causes an amount of the cheese product to be discarded and a loss to the consumer of expected usable product occurs.  
         [0005]     Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a food preservation device that substantially obviates one or more of the problems and disadvantages in the prior art. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description that follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the apparatus and process particularly pointed out in the written description and claims, as well as the appended drawings.  
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION  
       [0006]     To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purpose of the invention as embodied and broadly described herein, the invention is directed to a food preservation device to reduce the aging process of a food product including four side walls, each of the four side walls disposed in a generally orthogonal relationship to an adjacent one of the side walls, and a end cap adjacent at least one end of each of the four side walls to close at least one end of the device.  
         [0007]     In another aspect, the invention is directed to a method for preserving a food product having an over wrap, the method includes providing a food preservation device to reduce the aging process of a food product comprising four side walls, each of the four side walls disposed in a generally orthogonal relationship to an adjacent one of the side walls and an end cap adjacent at least one end of each of the four side walls to close at least one end of the device, exposing an end of the food product by removing at least a portion of the over wrap, and disposing the food preservation device on the exposed end of the food product to cover the exposed end.  
         [0008]     It is to be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.  
         [0009]     The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification. The drawings illustrate several embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention. 
     
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS  
       [0010]      FIG. 1  is a perspective view of one embodiment of a food preservation device according to the present invention;  
         [0011]      FIG. 2  is a perspective view of another embodiment of a food preservation device according to the present invention;  
         [0012]      FIG. 3  is a perspective view of another embodiment of a food preservation device according to the present invention;  
         [0013]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of another embodiment of a food preservation device according to the present invention; and  
         [0014]      FIGS. 5A-5E  illustrate the use of a food preservation device with a food product according to the present invention 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION  
       [0015]     As shown in  FIGS. 1-4 , the present invention is a one-piece open-ended cube, square, rectangular, cylindrical, or triangular container having the dimensions of the most commonly available commercial prepared cheese food products. As shown in the embodiment illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the food preservation device  10  is generally rectangularly shaped having four walls  12 , 14 , 16 , 18  that are generally orthogonal to an adjacent wall. The device  10  has one closed end  20 , and an open end  22  to receive the cheese or other food product. In device  10 , the opposite walls  14 , 18  have a first length L 1  and walls  12 , 16  have a second length L 2 , and L 1  is greater than L 2 . This embodiment would be best used with an 8 oz commercially available cheese product as it has about the same dimensions. Preferably, L 1  is about 2″ and L 2  is about 1⅜″, although other values are acceptable as can be seen in the other figures. For example,  FIG. 2  illustrates another embodiment of a food preservation device  30  that is generally square in cross section and corresponds to a 10 oz cheese product. Walls  32 , 34 , 36 , 38  are all about the same length L 3 , which is preferably about 1½″, but could be of any appropriate size for the food product on which it is to be used. Again, food preservation device  30  has one closed end  40 , and an open end  42  to receive the cheese or food product.  
         [0016]      FIG. 3  illustrates a larger food preservation device  50  to be used with a 2 lb. cheese product. The walls  52 , 54 , 56 , 58  are again about the same length, L 4 , which is about 2½″, again other dimensions are possible. The food preservation device  50  also has a closed end  60  and an open end  62  to receive the food or cheese product.  
         [0017]     Finally,  FIG. 4  illustrates another embodiment of a food preservation device  70 , which can be used with a 16 oz. cheese product. As with the embodiment in  FIG. 1 , the opposite walls  74 , 78  have a first length L 5  and walls  72 , 76  have a second length L 6 , and L 5  is greater than L 6  In this embodiment, the length L 5  is preferably about 2¼″ and length L 6  is preferably about 1⅝″. The food preservation device  70  also has a closed end  80  and an open end  82  to receive the food or cheese product. The preferably depth of all of the food preservation devices  10 , 30 , 50 , 70  is about 1½″, but could be any appropriate distance. Moreover, the walls of all devices are preferably {fraction (1/16)} of an inch thick, but could be thinner or thicker depending on the application.  
         [0018]     As illustrated with reference to  FIGS. 5   a - 5   e,  the open-ended device is used as a cover or sleeve, which is placed over the exposed, or cut end of the prepared cheese product after the cheese product over wrap is opened. An example of a cheese product  100  is illustrated in  FIG. 5   a.  The container forms a seal around the edges of the over wrap  102  of the cheese product  100  and against the exposed surface  104  of the prepared cheese product  100 . As shown in  FIG. 5B , a user would use knife  106  to cut through the wrap  102  and product  100 , exposing an end  104  of the cheese product. The portion  108  of cheese product to be used is removed in  FIG. 5C . The food preserving device  50  is introduced in  FIG. 5D  to seal the end of the cheese product  100 . (Device  50  is illustrated as the cheese product illustrated is the 2 lb product making the device  50  the best fit as discussed above. However, the  FIGS. 5   a - 5   e  applies to the other devices as well.) This seal is accomplished by leaving an amount of the over wrap material  102  on the prepared cheese product  100 , and binding the over wrap  102  with the device  50  to prevent exposure to air. The device can be made of plastic, glass, foil, metal, or paper. However plastic is the ideal material. Plastic is the preferred choice because of the ease of manufacturing, it is a lightweight material, allows the user to see the product (i.e., has visual clarity), is easy to clean to provide sanitary handling.  
         [0019]     Further, many of the commercial brick prepared cheese products have printed marks  110  on the foil over wrap  102 . These marks  110  are suggested indicators for cutting the cheese brick into approximate weight proportions, and can be used to make a clean cut through the foil over wrap  102 . Cutting of the over wrap rather than tearing or ripping facilitates the placement of this invention over the remainder of the prepared cheese product quite easily. An embedded tear type-opening strip at each of the suggested portion control marks would greatly facilitate a clean-cut edge to the over wrap and enable a very good seal to the remaining prepared cheese product when utilizing the article of this invention. The triangular and cylindrical containers (not shown) can be any triangular or cylindrical size with an overall length of 1½ inches.  
         [0000]     Shelf Life Testing  
         [0020]     Commercially prepared cheese products (Kraft Velveeta prepared cheese product; Net weight 32 oz (2 lb) 907 g Kraft Foods NA, Inc.) were tested in two distinct procedures. The results of these tests are as follows:  
                                       Visual   Outer package opened   Outer Package Opened, and       Condition   and refolded. No other   sealed with article of this       After:   protection used   invention, a plastic cube                   24 hours   darkening at center of   no sign of change in quality           cheese   no sign of change in quality       48 hours   slightly more darkening   or appearance       3 days   heavy dark streak   no sign of change in quality               or appearance       5 days   heavy dark streak-   no change in quality or           hardening of edges   appearance       1 week   discolored, streaks and   no change in quality - soft           hard edges   texture excellent color       2 weeks   very hard streaks - hard   excellent quality retention -           edges and center - dark   no change noted - entire           surface in center and   cheese brick remains edible -           approximately 10% inedible   cheese color very bright       3 weeks   white mold spots on cheese   no change in color or quality -           surface, hard corners and   cheese surface is soft, moist           darkened   and clear - no discoloration                 Test samples were refrigerated at all times during testing and stored at refrigeration temperature of 38 degrees “F.”. Test was terminated after 3 weeks of storage.             
 
         [0021]     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the multi-fiber ferrule of the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of this invention provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.