Patent ID: 7258905

Claim:
A sealable food container comprising: (a) a base serving member having a substantially planar base central portion, a base sidewall extending upwardly and outwardly therefrom and a base outer flange portion extending outwardly from said base sidewall; said base sidewall comprising a sealing recess disposed between said substantially planar base central portion of said base serving member and said base outer flange portion, the recess comprising (i) an inwardly projecting base stop ridge (ii) an upper extremity; (iii) a lower extremity; and (iv) between the base stop ridge and the lower extremity of the recess, an inwardly facing annular sealing surface at an outer wall of the sealing recess; wherein the base stop ridge is adjacent the upper extremity of the recess; (b) a laterally extending, internal retaining shelf located at the lower extremity of the sealing recess; (c) a sealing lid provided with a dome portion and a flexible lid sidewall extending downwardly from said dome portion as well as a lid flange portion extending outwardly with respect to said downwardly extending lid sidewall; said lid flange portion including at its inner periphery a lid sealing portion with (i) an outwardly facing annular lid sealing surface extending upwardly with respect to said downwardly extending lid sidewall of said sealing lid and (ii) said lid sealing portion further defining a lid stop ridge; wherein said base serving member and said sealing lid are configured such that when said sealing lid is forced downwardly on said base serving member said sealing lid is secured to said base serving member by cooperation of said base stop ridge of said base serving member and said lid stop ridge of said sealing lid; wherein said laterally extending retaining shelf of said base serving member extends outwardly over a base sidewall shelf width of at least about 0.5% of the characteristic diameter of said base serving member.