Sterile container

A sterile container, including

• a container having side walls disposed in a closed loop and having a closed bottom end and having an open top end for receiving an item to be maintained in a sterile environment and formed from a heat formable flexible plastic material and including a flange portion extending in a closed loop around the container body at the open top end,
• a sealing cavity formed within the flange portion of the container body and extending throughout the closed loop defined by the flange portion and including an opening having a particular dimension across the opening and having an increased dimension across the opening at progressive positions into the cavity, relative to the dimension at the opening of the cavity, for a major portion of the depth of the opening,
• a cover for closing the open end of the container body, the cover being formed from the heat formable flexible plastic material and including a flange portion extending in a closed loop around the cover corresponding to the closed loop for the flange portion of the container body, and
• a sealing cavity formed within the flange portion of the cover and nested within the sealing cavity in the flange portion of the container when the cover seals the open end of the container body and complementary to the shape of the sealing cavity in the flange portion of the container body and providing laminar surface-to-surface contact between the mating surfaces of the sealing cavities throughout the surface areas defining the closed loop of the flange portion on the cover and the closed loop of the sealing cavity in the flange portion of the container.