Tamper-resistant food container

A tamper-resistant food container comprising:

• generally horizontally oriented top and bottom parts, said top part being pivotably movable towards and away from said bottom part to define closed and open configurations of said container, respectively, said top and bottom parts being disposed in opposed relation with one another in said closed configuration of said container;
• front and rear generally upright side walls extending vertically between front and rear edge portions of said top and bottom parts, respectively, and first and second generally upright side walls extending vertically between opposed pairs of side edge portions of said top and bottom parts, opposite ends of said front side wall along with adjacent front ends of said first and second side walls forming a pair of front corners of said container;
• and
• a pair of locking arrangements each disposed adjacent one of said front corners, each said locking arrangement including a locking wall defined on said bottom part which is foldable inwardly towards an interior of said container into a locked position which prevents movement of said top part into said open configuration and outwardly away from the interior into an unlocked position which allows movement of said top part into said open configuration, locking tab defined on said top part, each said locking tab engaging with one of said locking walls when in the locked position to prevent upward movement of said top part relative to said bottom part, and a sidewardly projecting tab positioned above one of said locking walls to block access thereto and prevent movement of same by an unauthorized person into the unlocked position.

A food container comprising:

• upper and lower portions joined to one another such that said upper portion is pivotably swingable away from said lower portion to define an open configuration of said container and toward said lower portion to define a closed configuration of said container;
• said lower portion comprising:
• a generally planar bottom wall having a first pair of generally parallel side edges and a second pair of generally parallel side edges extending generally perpendicular relative to said first pair of side edges;
• first and second elongate side walls integrally joined to said bottom wall and folded upwardly therefrom about fold lines which extend along said first pair of side edges;
• front and rear side walls integrally joined to said bottom wall and folded upwardly therefrom about fold lines which extend along said second pair of side edges, opposite ends of said front side wall along with adjacent front ends of said first and second side walls forming a pair of front corners of said container;
• and
• a pair of locking walls, each said locking wall being disposed adjacent one of said front corners and being folded inwardly towards an interior of said container;
• said upper portion comprising:
• a generally planar top wall integrally joined to said rear side wall about a fold line which extends along a side edge of said top wall;
• a pair of locking tabs, said locking tabs abuttingly engaging with lower edges of the respective locking walls when an attempt is made to raise said upper portion relative to said lower portion;
• and
• a pair of generally horizontally projecting tabs respectively positioned above said locking walls to block access thereto and prevent same from being moved outwardly past the respective locking tabs.

A tamper-resistant food container formed from a one-piece foldable blank, said container comprising:

• top and bottom portions disposed in opposed relation with one another in a closed configuration of said container and wherein said top portion is hingedly attached to said bottom portion through a fold line and is swingably movable away from same to define an open configuration of said container;
• a plurality of upright side walls projecting between said top and bottom portions with adjacent pairs of said side walls being oriented in transverse relation with one another;
• and
• a locking arrangement including a generally upright wall which is foldable into a locked position wherein said wall is generally corner-shaped with the corner thereof being disposed inwardly to prevent said top portion from being moved away from said bottom portion, and into an unlocked position wherein said corner is disposed outwardly, and a generally horizontally oriented tab which is disposed above said wall and in generally perpendicular relation therewith to block access to said wall and prevent same from being moved into the unlocked position by an unauthorized person, said tab being perforated to permit removal of said tab by the consumer to provide access to said wall and allow movement of said wall into the unlocked position, and removal of said tab by an unauthorized person provides visual evidence of tampering.

A method of assembling a food container, said method comprising the steps of:

• providing a container having top and bottom parts, said top part being pivotably movable towards and away from said bottom part to define closed and open configurations of said container, respectively, front and rear side walls extending between front and rear edge portions of the top and bottom parts, respectively, first and second generally upright side walls extending vertically between opposed pairs of side edge portions of the top and bottom parts, opposite ends of the front side wall along with adjacent front ends of the first and second side walls forming a pair of front corners of the container, and a pair of locking arrangements each disposed adjacent one of the front corners and each having a generally upright locking wall provided on the lower portion of the container, a generally upright locking tab provided on the upper portion of the container, and a generally horizontally oriented tab;
• placing a food product on a bottom wall of the bottom part with the container in the open configuration;
• closing the container by pivotably moving the top part towards the bottom part and into opposed relation therewith and so that the tabs are each positioned above a respective locking wall;
• and
• folding each locking wall inwardly past the respective upright locking tab into a locked position to prevent movement of the top part into the open configuration and to prevent outward movement of the locking wall by an unauthorized user, wherein the tabs block access to the respective locking walls to prevent same from being moved by an unauthorized person outwardly into an unlocked position.