Ready-to-assemble, ready-to-eat packaged pizza
AssigneeKraft Foods, Inc.
InventorsStuart A. Cochran, Steven J. Goll, Howard C. Lippincott, Gary A. Winkler
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A baked pizza crust is provided having a water activity in the range of about 0.6-0.85, the baked crust being suitable for use in a refrigerated, ready-to-eat pizza kit. Also provided is a kit for preparing ready-to-eat pizza, the kit including pizza crust, pizza sauce and one or a plurality of pizza toppings which are hermetically sealed from the external atmosphere in a package having a base tray and a top fitted and sealed to the base tray. Preferably, each food item is in a separate compartment sealed from the other food items to substantially retard or prevent flavor, moisture and microbial migration from one food item to another.
Claims14
A kit for making or assembling a ready-to-eat pizza, said kit comprising a base tray;
- having a plurality of compartments;
- one of said compartments includes a shelf defining said compartment into an upper portion and a lower portion;
- a sauce packaged in an envelope and placed in said lower portion of said one compartment;
- a baked, yeast-raised pizza crust having a water activity in the range of about 0.6-0.85, placed within said upper portion of said one compartment and being partially supported by said sauce envelope in said lower portion of said one compartment;
- a first topping consisting of a cheese topping, a second topping selected from the group consisting of a cheese topping and a non-cheese topping, said first and second toppings are placed within said tray;
- and a top fitted and sealed to said base tray to thereby hermetically seal said baked, yeast-raised pizza crust and toppings from atmosphere external of said tray.
A kit for making or assembling a ready-to-eat pizza, said kit comprising a base tray having a plurality of compartments;
- one of said compartments includes a shelf defining said compartment into an upper portion and a lower portion;
- a sauce packaged in an envelope and placed in said lower portion of said one compartment;
- a baked pizza crust placed within said upper portion of said one compartment and being partially supported by said sauce envelope in said lower portion of said one compartment;
- a first topping consisting of a cheese topping, a second topping selected from the group consisting of a cheese topping and a noncheese topping;
- said first and second toppings are placed within respective other separate ones of said compartments of said tray;
- and a top fitted and sealed to said base tray to thereby hermetically seal said baked, crust and toppings from the atmosphere and from each other.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.