EP2125568A1 - Method and system for in-flight catering of soup - Google Patents

Method and system for in-flight catering of soup

Info

Publication number
EP2125568A1
EP2125568A1 EP08717039A EP08717039A EP2125568A1 EP 2125568 A1 EP2125568 A1 EP 2125568A1 EP 08717039 A EP08717039 A EP 08717039A EP 08717039 A EP08717039 A EP 08717039A EP 2125568 A1 EP2125568 A1 EP 2125568A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
soup
cup
lid
air venting
closed
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP08717039A
Other languages
German (de)
French (fr)
Inventor
Benny Birger Rasmussen
Johannes Timmer
Flemming Troldtoft
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Unilever PLC
Unilever NV
Original Assignee
Unilever PLC
Unilever NV
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Unilever PLC, Unilever NV filed Critical Unilever PLC
Priority to EP08717039A priority Critical patent/EP2125568A1/en
Publication of EP2125568A1 publication Critical patent/EP2125568A1/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
    • B65—CONVEYING; PACKING; STORING; HANDLING THIN OR FILAMENTARY MATERIAL
    • B65D—CONTAINERS FOR STORAGE OR TRANSPORT OF ARTICLES OR MATERIALS, e.g. BAGS, BARRELS, BOTTLES, BOXES, CANS, CARTONS, CRATES, DRUMS, JARS, TANKS, HOPPERS, FORWARDING CONTAINERS; ACCESSORIES, CLOSURES, OR FITTINGS THEREFOR; PACKAGING ELEMENTS; PACKAGES
    • B65D81/00—Containers, packaging elements, or packages, for contents presenting particular transport or storage problems, or adapted to be used for non-packaging purposes after removal of contents
    • B65D81/34—Containers, packaging elements, or packages, for contents presenting particular transport or storage problems, or adapted to be used for non-packaging purposes after removal of contents for packaging foodstuffs or other articles intended to be cooked or heated within the package

Definitions

  • the present invention relates to the field of in-flight catering of food products. More in particular, it relates to a method and a system for in-flight catering of soup.
  • the soup has to be provided in pre-packed format using sealed portions.
  • the above and other objects of the invention may be achieved by the method for in-flight catering of soup, comprising the steps of filling a cup with soup, closing the cup with a lid, said closed cup comprising air venting means, heating the closed cup to a temperature of between 30 0 C to 100 0 C and serving the closed cup in an airplane during the flight under conditions of less than atmospheric pressure .
  • a method for inflight catering of soup comprising the steps of filling a cup with soup, closing the cup with a lid, said closed cup comprising air venting means, heating the closed cup to a temperature of between 30 0 C to 100 0 C and serving the closed cup in an airplane during the flight under conditions of less than atmospheric pressure.
  • a system for the in-flight catering of soup comprising a cup for holding soup, a lid for closing the cup and air venting means.
  • the closed cup contains soup.
  • a cup is filled with soup.
  • the cup will generally have a volume of about 50 to 300 ml, preferably from 150 to 250 ml.
  • the cups can be made of any material, but because the pre-portioned soup cups need to be heated up on board, the material needs to be thermostable.
  • the cup is made of a thermostable plastic material.
  • a very suitable and preferred plastic packaging material for baking in conventional aircraft ovens is called C*PET (Crystalline Polyethylene Terephthalate) . This material is widely used for chilled convenience meals and special polyester seal films have been developed to secure proper sealing (see for instance http : //www. faerchplast . com/forseglingsfolier .asp)
  • the cup After filling the cup with soup, the cup is closed with a lid, which is preferably made of the same material as the cup.
  • the lid will fit the top opening of the cup, but not too tight so that it can be easily removed.
  • the closed cup will comprise air venting means, in order to overcome the drop in air pressure at 10 km height, which is only about 0.7 bar and therefore significantly lower than atmospheric pressure (approximately 1 bar at sea level) .
  • These air venting means can take several forms.
  • the air venting means may consist of one or more small openings between the cup and the lid, such as slots or grooves in the cup and/or the lid.
  • the air venting means consist of one or more holes in the lid or the cup.
  • the air venting means may also take the form of a valve which opens under pressure.
  • the filled cups From a logistic point of view it is convenient to subject the filled cups to a fast freezing step.
  • the frozen cups containing the soup can then be shipped and stored for prolonged periods of up to 12 months or more, until shortly before use.
  • the cups are then allowed to thaw at about 7°C and put on board of the airplane.
  • the closed cup containing the soup is heated to a temperature of between 30 0 C to 100 0 C, preferably between 40 0 C to 80 0 C, more preferably about 45°C.
  • This heating can be achieved by putting the closed cups on oven skids, putting the skids in oven inserts and putting the inserts inside an on-board convection oven which is available in most types of modern commercial passenger airplanes.
  • the heating is carried out for a predetermined time, for instance 20-30 minutes at 180-200 0 C.
  • Other ways of heating can of course also be contemplated, if they should become more available for use in airplanes.
  • the heating time should be chosen such that the soup temperature will be in the above mentioned ranges.
  • the packaged closed cups containing the soup are served in the airplane during the flight under conditions of less than atmospheric pressure, whereby the passengers remove the lid from the cup before consumption.
  • the cup may be closed again at any time to prevent spillage of the soup.
  • the lid is connected to the cup by means of a label, so that the consumer can see that cup has not been opened after the soup has been placed in the cup.
  • the soup used in the method of the invention can in principle be any type of soup, and the term "soup" as used herein refers to soups in the broadest sense.
  • the soup is preferably a thick soup. This may be achieved by using an emulsion or by adding of thickening agents such as starch. It is especially preferred when the soup is selected from the group consisting of tomato soup, mushroom soup, lentil's soup, pea soup and pumpkin soup.
  • a second aspect of the present invention is a system for the in-flight catering of soup, comprising a cup for holding soup, a lid for closing the cup and air venting means, as described above.
  • the closed cup contains the soup.
  • the cups were filled in a high-high care area and chilled according to Good Manufacturing Practice.
  • the soup doy- packs were opened and 175 ml was portioned into cups made of Crystalline PET (C*PET) by means of an automatic depositor.
  • the cups were closed with a C*PET lid which left small openings between the cup and the lid to release pressure, which is in the order of 0.7 bar at 10 km height.
  • the cups were moved out of the h-h-c area and were transported chilled in CBL-crates to the airport.
  • the "open" shelf-life of these soup cups is 5 days chilled (GMP chilled 7.4) .
  • the cups were put in oven skids (7 by 6) and the skids were placed in oven inserts on board.
  • the crew heated up the soup for 20-30 minutes in the convection oven at 180-200 0 C whereby the soup reached a temperature of about 55 to 60 0 C.
  • the air venting openings allowed the release of pressure from both cabin and steam caused by heating.
  • the soup cups were placed in the meal boxes and served by the crew to the passengers.
  • the lid provided extra safety for the passengers, making the soup cup re-closable in case of turbulence or other causes.
  • KnorrTM Frozen tomato soup was used.
  • Frozen soup is the best soup quality possible, because only a cooking process is used as a heating process. In this process no pasteurisation or sterilisation step is required to extend the shelf life. A natural cooking process is applied followed by a hot fill dosing method and a fast freezing step. This process gives a long shelf life of minimally 12 months.
  • the advantage of this process over the process described in example 1, is that the shelf life in the cups is minimally 12 months which allows a cost efficient worldwide distribution.
  • the soup was filled in the cups made of Crystalline PET (C*PET) by means of an automatic depositor.
  • C*PET Crystalline PET
  • the cups were closed with a C*PET lid which left small openings between the cup and the lid to release pressure, which is in the order of 0.7 bar at 10 km height.
  • the cups were put into the shock freezer at -32°C and stored and transported at - 18°C to various local caterers. After a thawing process (approximately 12 hrs at max. 7°C), the cups were put in oven skids (7 by 6) and the skids were placed in oven inserts at the local caterer and transported to the airplane.
  • the "open" shelf-life of these soup cups is 5 days chilled (GMP chilled 7.4) .
  • the crew heated up the soup for 20-30 minutes in a convection oven at 180-200 0 C, whereby the soup reached a temperature of about 55 to 60 0 C.
  • the air venting openings allowed the release of pressure from both cabin and steam caused by heating.
  • the soup cups were placed in the meal boxes and served by the crew to the passengers.
  • the lid provided extra safety for the passengers, making the soup cup re- closable in case of turbulence or other causes.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Food Science & Technology (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Seeds, Soups, And Other Foods (AREA)
  • Package Specialized In Special Use (AREA)
  • Air Bags (AREA)

Abstract

There is provided a method of in-flight catering of soup, comprising the steps of filling a cup with soup, closing the cup with a lid, said closed cup comprising air venting means, heating the closed cup to a temperature of 30ºC to 100ºC and serving the closed cup in an airplane during the flight under conditions of less than atmospheric pressure. There is also provided a system for the in-flight catering of soup, comprising a cup for holding with soup, a lid for closing the cup and air venting means.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR IN-FLIGHT CATERING OF SOUP
TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of in-flight catering of food products. More in particular, it relates to a method and a system for in-flight catering of soup.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is not easy in the in-flight catering business to achieve high levels of food quality, because there is not enough room or staff on board of the aircrafts to prepare fresh meals. Traditionally, only packaged foods in the form of snacks or sandwiches are offered to the passengers, especially in the economy class and on shorter flights of about two hours flying time or less.
Today, only powder-based soups are sometimes prepared on board for business class passengers, using hot water and dry soup powder. So far, it was simply not possible from a logistics point of view to offer high-quality soup to economy class passengers during the flight.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide method for in-flight catering of soup, which is economically and logistically affordable. In order to be economically acceptable, the soup has to be provided in pre-packed format using sealed portions.
There are several, sometimes conflicting, problems associated with serving single pre-packed sealed portions of wet soup. On the one hand, a strong seal strength is required: a. during sterilization in the autoclave, b. to overcome the drop in air pressure at approximately 10 km height, which is only about 0.7 bar, c. to avoid leaking of the soup because of oven steam pressure, caused by heating in a conventional airplane convection oven, and d. to provide handling safety for the crew.
On the other hand, a weak, easy peel seal is required to provide an easy peel for the passenger on board when eating the soup. Furthermore, there is a need for additional safety for the passengers, because serving and eating hot soup in case of turbulence may be hazardous.
It was now surprisingly found that the above and other objects of the invention may be achieved by the method for in-flight catering of soup, comprising the steps of filling a cup with soup, closing the cup with a lid, said closed cup comprising air venting means, heating the closed cup to a temperature of between 300C to 1000C and serving the closed cup in an airplane during the flight under conditions of less than atmospheric pressure .
DEFINITION OF THE INVENTION According to a first aspect, there is provided a method for inflight catering of soup, comprising the steps of filling a cup with soup, closing the cup with a lid, said closed cup comprising air venting means, heating the closed cup to a temperature of between 300C to 1000C and serving the closed cup in an airplane during the flight under conditions of less than atmospheric pressure.
According to a second aspect, there is provided a system for the in-flight catering of soup, comprising a cup for holding soup, a lid for closing the cup and air venting means. Preferably, the closed cup contains soup.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
In the first step of the method of the invention for in-flight catering of soup, a cup is filled with soup. The cup will generally have a volume of about 50 to 300 ml, preferably from 150 to 250 ml. The cups can be made of any material, but because the pre-portioned soup cups need to be heated up on board, the material needs to be thermostable. Preferably, the cup is made of a thermostable plastic material. A very suitable and preferred plastic packaging material for baking in conventional aircraft ovens is called C*PET (Crystalline Polyethylene Terephthalate) . This material is widely used for chilled convenience meals and special polyester seal films have been developed to secure proper sealing (see for instance http : //www. faerchplast . com/forseglingsfolier .asp)
After filling the cup with soup, the cup is closed with a lid, which is preferably made of the same material as the cup. The lid will fit the top opening of the cup, but not too tight so that it can be easily removed. The closed cup will comprise air venting means, in order to overcome the drop in air pressure at 10 km height, which is only about 0.7 bar and therefore significantly lower than atmospheric pressure (approximately 1 bar at sea level) . These air venting means can take several forms. First, the air venting means may consist of one or more small openings between the cup and the lid, such as slots or grooves in the cup and/or the lid. Alternatively, the air venting means consist of one or more holes in the lid or the cup. These one or more openings should be sufficiently large to allow the gradual release of the pressure in the closed cup resulting from the pressure drop outside the cup and the pressure of the steam above the soup which occurs when the soup is heated. The air venting means may also take the form of a valve which opens under pressure.
From a logistic point of view it is convenient to subject the filled cups to a fast freezing step. The frozen cups containing the soup can then be shipped and stored for prolonged periods of up to 12 months or more, until shortly before use. The cups are then allowed to thaw at about 7°C and put on board of the airplane.
Subsequently, shortly before use, the closed cup containing the soup is heated to a temperature of between 300C to 1000C, preferably between 400C to 800C, more preferably about 45°C. This heating can be achieved by putting the closed cups on oven skids, putting the skids in oven inserts and putting the inserts inside an on-board convection oven which is available in most types of modern commercial passenger airplanes. The heating is carried out for a predetermined time, for instance 20-30 minutes at 180-2000C. Other ways of heating can of course also be contemplated, if they should become more available for use in airplanes. The heating time should be chosen such that the soup temperature will be in the above mentioned ranges.
Finally, the packaged closed cups containing the soup are served in the airplane during the flight under conditions of less than atmospheric pressure, whereby the passengers remove the lid from the cup before consumption. In case of turbulence, the cup may be closed again at any time to prevent spillage of the soup.
It is preferred that the lid is connected to the cup by means of a label, so that the consumer can see that cup has not been opened after the soup has been placed in the cup. The soup used in the method of the invention can in principle be any type of soup, and the term "soup" as used herein refers to soups in the broadest sense. However, the soup is preferably a thick soup. This may be achieved by using an emulsion or by adding of thickening agents such as starch. It is especially preferred when the soup is selected from the group consisting of tomato soup, mushroom soup, lentil's soup, pea soup and pumpkin soup.
A second aspect of the present invention is a system for the in-flight catering of soup, comprising a cup for holding soup, a lid for closing the cup and air venting means, as described above. Preferably, the closed cup contains the soup.
The invention will now be further illustrated by means of the following non-limiting examples.
EXAMPLE 1 Knorr™ Food Solutions 100% tomato soup in 2.5 liter doy packs was used. This product is commercially available and ambient stable. The cups were filled in a high-high care area and chilled according to Good Manufacturing Practice. The soup doy- packs were opened and 175 ml was portioned into cups made of Crystalline PET (C*PET) by means of an automatic depositor. The cups were closed with a C*PET lid which left small openings between the cup and the lid to release pressure, which is in the order of 0.7 bar at 10 km height. The cups were moved out of the h-h-c area and were transported chilled in CBL-crates to the airport. The "open" shelf-life of these soup cups is 5 days chilled (GMP chilled 7.4) . The cups were put in oven skids (7 by 6) and the skids were placed in oven inserts on board. The crew heated up the soup for 20-30 minutes in the convection oven at 180-2000C whereby the soup reached a temperature of about 55 to 600C. The air venting openings allowed the release of pressure from both cabin and steam caused by heating. The soup cups were placed in the meal boxes and served by the crew to the passengers. The lid provided extra safety for the passengers, making the soup cup re-closable in case of turbulence or other causes.
EXAMPLE 2
Knorr™ Frozen tomato soup was used. Frozen soup is the best soup quality possible, because only a cooking process is used as a heating process. In this process no pasteurisation or sterilisation step is required to extend the shelf life. A natural cooking process is applied followed by a hot fill dosing method and a fast freezing step. This process gives a long shelf life of minimally 12 months. The advantage of this process over the process described in example 1, is that the shelf life in the cups is minimally 12 months which allows a cost efficient worldwide distribution.
After cooking the soup, the soup was filled in the cups made of Crystalline PET (C*PET) by means of an automatic depositor. The cups were closed with a C*PET lid which left small openings between the cup and the lid to release pressure, which is in the order of 0.7 bar at 10 km height. The cups were put into the shock freezer at -32°C and stored and transported at - 18°C to various local caterers. After a thawing process (approximately 12 hrs at max. 7°C), the cups were put in oven skids (7 by 6) and the skids were placed in oven inserts at the local caterer and transported to the airplane. The "open" shelf-life of these soup cups is 5 days chilled (GMP chilled 7.4) . The crew heated up the soup for 20-30 minutes in a convection oven at 180-2000C, whereby the soup reached a temperature of about 55 to 600C. The air venting openings allowed the release of pressure from both cabin and steam caused by heating. The soup cups were placed in the meal boxes and served by the crew to the passengers. The lid provided extra safety for the passengers, making the soup cup re- closable in case of turbulence or other causes.

Claims

1. A method for in-flight catering of soup, comprising the steps of filling a cup with soup, closing the cup with a lid, said closed cup comprising air venting means, heating the closed cup to a temperature of between 300C to 1000C and serving the closed cup in an airplane during the flight under conditions of less than atmospheric pressure.
2. Method according to claim 1, wherein the cup is made of a thermostable material.
3. Method according to claims 1 or 2, wherein cup is made of a thermostable plastic material.
4. Method according to claim 3, wherein cup is made of a PET, preferably crystalline PET.
5. Method according any one of the preceding claims, wherein the air venting means consist of one or more openings between the cup and the lid.
6. Method according any one of the preceding claims, wherein the air venting means consist of one or more holes in the lid.
7. Method according any one of the preceding claims, wherein the lid is connected to the cup by means of a label.
8. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the soup is a thick soup.
9. Method according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the soup is selected from tomato soup, mushroom soup, lentil's soup, pea soup and pumpkin soup.
10. System for the in-flight catering of soup, comprising a cup for holding soup, a lid for closing the cup and air venting means .
11. System according to 10, wherein the closed cup contains soup .
12. System according to claims 10 to 11, wherein the cup is made of a thermostable material.
13. System according to claim 12, wherein cup is made of a thermostable plastic material.
14. System according to claim 13, wherein cup is made of a PET, preferably crystalline PET.
15. System according any one of claims 10 to 14, wherein the air venting means consists of one or more openings between the cup and the lid.
16. System according any one of claims 10 to 14, wherein the air venting means consists of one or more holes in the lid.
17. System according any one of claims 10 to 16, wherein the lid is connected to the cup by means of a label.
18. System according to any one of claims 10 to 17, wherein the soup is a thick soup.
19. System according to claim 18, wherein the soup is selected from tomato soup, mushroom soup, lentil's soup, pea soup and pumpkin soup.
EP08717039A 2007-02-27 2008-02-22 Method and system for in-flight catering of soup Withdrawn EP2125568A1 (en)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
EP08717039A EP2125568A1 (en) 2007-02-27 2008-02-22 Method and system for in-flight catering of soup

Applications Claiming Priority (4)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
DKPA200700293 2007-02-27
EP07103695 2007-03-07
PCT/EP2008/052176 WO2008104508A1 (en) 2007-02-27 2008-02-22 Method and system for in-flight catering of soup
EP08717039A EP2125568A1 (en) 2007-02-27 2008-02-22 Method and system for in-flight catering of soup

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP2125568A1 true EP2125568A1 (en) 2009-12-02

Family

ID=39720859

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP08717039A Withdrawn EP2125568A1 (en) 2007-02-27 2008-02-22 Method and system for in-flight catering of soup

Country Status (4)

Country Link
EP (1) EP2125568A1 (en)
CN (1) CN101678940A (en)
EA (1) EA200901183A1 (en)
WO (1) WO2008104508A1 (en)

Cited By (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
LT5932B (en) 2012-03-27 2013-04-25 Uab Mantinga Container with double lid

Family Cites Families (6)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
DE3576485D1 (en) * 1984-12-10 1990-04-19 House Food Industrial Co CONTAINER WARMED BY A MICROWAVE DEVICE.
JPH03255816A (en) * 1990-03-02 1991-11-14 Matsushita Electric Ind Co Ltd High frequency heating device
WO1996015049A1 (en) * 1994-08-03 1996-05-23 Gics & Vermee, L.P. Food product container
GB9819416D0 (en) * 1998-09-07 1998-10-28 Aea Technology Plc Treatment of aircraft cabin air
CA2524951A1 (en) * 2004-10-28 2006-04-28 General Mills, Inc. Microwaveable packaged good article overcap
US20060118552A1 (en) * 2004-12-02 2006-06-08 Campbell Soup Company Use of shielding to optimize heating of microwaveable food products

Non-Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
See references of WO2008104508A1 *

Cited By (2)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
LT5932B (en) 2012-03-27 2013-04-25 Uab Mantinga Container with double lid
EP2644531A1 (en) 2012-03-27 2013-10-02 UAB "Mantinga" Container with a double cover

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
EA200901183A1 (en) 2010-02-26
CN101678940A (en) 2010-03-24
WO2008104508A1 (en) 2008-09-04

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