Packaging of thinly sliced meats
AssigneeOscar Mayer Foods Corporation
InventorsBrian P. Lawless, Heidi A. Schmidt, Gary G. Winchester, Kenneth E. Woode
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A package, packaged food product and method are provided for packaging thinly sliced proteinaceous products such as sliced luncheon meats, cheeses and the like in a manner such that the thinly sliced products are supported by the packaging in a manner that resists shifting of the thinly sliced products within the package. The package has a generally wedge-shaped cavity into which a doubled-over shingled stack of the slices are sealed. Preferably, the package includes a semi-rigid panel and a flexible panel, at least one of which is generally transparent for displaying a substantial portion of the surface of at least one of the thin slices.
Claims24
A packaged food product wherein thinly sliced proteinaceous products are hermetically sealed between generally opposing panels, comprising:
- a formed panel member having a generally wedge-shaped enclosure bubble cavity of varying depth in cross-section, the depth in at least one portion of said cavity being deeper than the depth in at least one end thereof, said cavity also having a planar access opening on one side thereof, and a substantially-planar peripheral flange which surrounds and defines said access opening of said generally wedge-shaped enclosure bubble cavity and is substantially in the plane of said planar access opening;
- a substantially flat planar panel member overlying said planar peripheral flange and said access opening of the generally wedge-shaped enclosure bubble cavity to thereby close said cavity;
- means for sealing said substantially flat planar panel member to said planar flange of the formed panel member;
- and
- a stack of thinly sliced proteinaceous products hermetically sealed within a compartment defined by said generally wedge-shaped enclosure bubble cavity and said substantially flat planar panel member, said stack being a shingled stack folded up onto itself into a generally doubled-over wedge-shaped configuration of shingled thinly sliced proteinaceous products;
- said compartment being substantially complementary in configuration to and somewhat larger in size than said doubled-over shingled stack of thinly sliced proteinaceous products, and engaging both a front face and a rear portion of said stack with the doubled-over portion of the stack positioned in said deeper portion of the cavity, at least a portion of at least one of said panel members being transparent to permit viewing of said proteinaceous products in said package.
A packaged food product according to claim 6, 7herein said coloration layer includes a metallized component.
A method for packaging thinly sliced proteinaceous products in a package comprising:
- forming a panel member having a generally wedge-shaped enclosure bubble cavity of a varying depth in cross-section, the depth in at least one portion of said cavity being deeper than the depth at in least one end thereof, said cavity also having a planar access opening on one side thereof, and a substantially planar flange which surrounds and defines said access opening of said generally wedge-shaped enclosure bubble cavity and which is substantially in the plane of said planar access opening;
- stacking a plurality of thinly sliced proteinaceous products one on top of another and offsetting said slices with respect to each other so as to form a shingled stack of the thinly sliced proteinaceous products;
- folding the shingled stack generally onto itself in order to provide a doubled-over shingled stack;
- depositing the doubled-over shingled stack within said bubble cavity of the formed panel member;
- overlying a substantially flat planar panel member over the access opening to thereby enclose the doubled-over shingled stack between the substantially flat planar panel member and generally wedge-shaped enclosure bubble cavity of the formed panel member, at least a portion of at least one of the panel members being transparent to permit viewing of said proteinaceous products in the package;
- and
- sealing the substantially flat planar panel member to the flange of the formed panel member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.