Procedure for packaging of food under protective gas in synthetic containers with flexible tops

In a procedure for packaging a food under protective gas in synthetic material containers with flexible lids sealed to the rims of the containers where the packaging steps include product filling, protective gas flushing, lid application, and lid sealing;

• the improvement being in that the packaging steps are performed in the sequence of product filling and then lid application and then flushing with protective gas and then sealing of the lids, the packaging steps being performed to the container while the container is mounted to a movable conveyor, the lid, relative to the movement of the conveyor, having upstream and downstream ends and side portions intermediate thereof, the lid having a tear-off tongue located at one of the side portions and projecting beyond the rim of the container, the lid application step comprising placing the lid on the container rim so that the lid lies flat on the container, securing the flat-oriented lid to the container at one of the ends of the lid, the protective gas flushing step comprising positioning a fixed wedge in the path of motion of the container located to have the narrow end of the wedge slide beneath the tear-off tongue of the lid, raising the tear-off tongue away from the container as the tear-off tongue slides upwardly along the wedge to expose the head space of the container to the thick end of the wedge, the thick end of the wedge having a bore in flow communication with a protective flushing gas nozzle, blowing the protective gas from the nozzle and through the bore into the head space of the container, utilizing the escaping air from the head space to raise the lid at an unsecured location remote from the tear-off tongue, and permitting the lid to return to its flat condition as the container moves away from the wedge and to the lid sealing station.