Patent ID: 8784917

Claim:
A packaged food product including a food component ( 4 ) and a sauce ( 5 ) provided in packaging ( 1 ), the packaging comprising: a container ( 2 ) containing the food component ( 4 ); and a lid ( 3 ) rotatably engageable with the container ( 2 ) about an axis of rotation and in a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation, the lid selectively closing the container ( 2 ) and having an open concavity into which the sauce ( 5 ) is received, the sauce ( 5 ) being selectively separated from the food component ( 4 ) by a seal ( 7 ) closing off the open concavity of the lid ( 3 ) facing the food component ( 4 ) in the container ( 2 ), wherein the container ( 2 ) comprises a tearing mechanism ( 11 ) constructed and arranged to selectively tear the seal ( 7 ) along a circumferential direction when the lid ( 3 ) is rotated about the axis of rotation between a pre-tearing position and a tearing position, wherein the open concavity of the lid ( 3 ) is defined by an edge portion of the lid ( 3 ) that lies in a plane skewed to a plane perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the lid ( 3 ), the seal ( 7 ) being fixed to the edge portion such that the seal ( 7 ) likewise lies in the skewed plane, wherein in the pre-tearing position of the lid ( 3 ), the tearing mechanism ( 11 ) is spaced away from the seal along the direction of the axis of rotation of the lid ( 3 ), and in the tearing position the tearing mechanism ( 11 ) is relatively closer to the seal ( 7 ) to permit tearing of the seal ( 7 ); wherein the sauce ( 5 ) rests substantially on the seal ( 7 ) above the food component ( 4 ) when the lid ( 3 ) is engaged with the container ( 2 ), such that the sauce ( 5 ) can fall onto the food component ( 4 ) when the seal ( 7 ) is torn.