GB2477126A

GB2477126A - Foil

Info

Publication number: GB2477126A
Application number: GB1001037A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Johan Bergen
Original assignee: I C B NV
Current assignee: I.C.B. NV
Priority date: 2010-01-22
Filing date: 2010-01-22
Publication date: 2011-07-27
Also published as: GB201001037D0

Abstract

Foil is used for separating food preferably at or below zero centigrade, wherein the foil is polymer, such as polyvinylidene fluoride, polytetrafluoroethene, and polyhexafluoroprene, copolymer of hexafluoroprene and tetrafluoroethene, a copolymer of perfluoromethylvinyl ether and tetrafluoroethene. The polymer comprises of a monomer units in which at least 30 mo1% are polyfluorohydrocarbon, preferably perfluorohydrocarbon units. The perfluorohydrocarbon is preferably selected from vinylidene fluoride, 1,2-difluoroethene, trifluoroethene, tetrafluoroethene, trifluoropropene, tetrafluoropropene, pentafluoropropene and hexafluoropropene and/or perfluoroalkylvinylether monomer units, which are preferably selected from perfluoromethylvinylether, perfluoroethylvinylether and perfluoropopylvinylether.

Description

REUSABLE NON-STICK INTERLEAVING FOR FOOD PRODUCTS

Technical field of the invention

The present invention relates to the use of a reusable non-stick foil for separating food products.

Background of the invention

US 6,521,697 discloses an unsintered polytetrafluoroethylene processed article having an unsintered PTFE layer formed by coating and/or impregnating with an aqueous dispersion of PTFE, a content of alkyl phenols detected from said unsintered polytetra-fluoroethylene layer being not more than 0.1 ppm.

EP 1 862 398A discloses a frozen food package comprising: a) a frozen food item; b) a first web sealing the frozen food item from the exterior environment; and c) a second web at least partially sealing the first web from the exterior environment; wherein the first and second webs are transparent to visible light, are aligned thereby to permit the frozen food item to be viewed by a consumer, have a daily water vapour transmission rate less than 300 g/m2 for a 25 micron thick film, are not in thermal contact and define an inter-web space occupied with one or more gases.

The widespread use of deep freezes has enabled the housewife to reduce her shopping trips and to prepare food in advance. However, a major problem confronting the housewife is that if a deep-freeze bag contains a number of pieces of food e.g. pieces or slices of fresh or cooked meat or fish or pre-prepared items of food, these pieces stick together in the deepfreeze bag even if they are interleaved with greaseproof or other paper.

Waxed paper or paper laminated on one side with a thin plastic film is conventionally used for packing up fresh products, but not for interleaving. The only way of separating these stuck-together items of food is thawing the deep-frozen product whereupon the interleaving paper becomes soggy and breaks up resulting in contamination of the food product itself Moreover, during the lengthy defrosting/thawing process the food product is exposed to germs, e.g. bacteria, in the environment. Therefore this separation process is both inconvenient and unhealthy.

Interleaving with plastic foil is also problematical because of the build-up of ice on the surface as can be seen by the non-transparency of freezer bags when taken from a deep freeze. Such interleaving leads to undesirable sticking together of food items via the interleaving. This is particularly the case with polyolefin foil. Moreover, this has to be removed before the food item can be cooked.

One solution to this problem is that used with instant deep-frozen meals. With the increasing popularity of instant meals deep frozen products have been developed which can be cooked in the bag in which they are packaged without thawing using a microwave oven or in boiling water. These deep-frozen instant meal items include vegetables, vegetable mixtures, such as ratatouille, and fish or meat products often in sauces.

However, the plastics used such as polyester are not suitable for temperatures higher than 100°C, the boiling point of water.

A problem with plastics having properties which lend themselves for interleaving of food with the necessary stiffness and non-stick properties and for cooking in contact with the food without degradation is that such plastics are too expensive to make them commercially viable for such applications and do not lend themselves to reuse due to their incompatibility with the processes necessary to render them hygienic in the event of reuse.

There is therefore a need for interleaving which can be placed between different items of food at the point of sale or in the household for food products e.g. fresh and pre-prepared food products and moreover can withstand cooking temperatures above 100°C to counter any contamination with germs.

Summary of the invention

It is an object of the present invention to provide an interleaving for food products, which prevents their sticking together directly or via the interleaving.

An advantage of the present invention is that food can be cooked in contact with the interleaving at temperatures above 100°C.

A further advantages of the present invention is that the interleaving can be easily cleaned to remove food residue and germs and then reused.

A still further advantage of the present invention is that it is compatible with microwave ovens.

A still further advantage of the present invention is that it can be sterilised by exposing to temperatures up to 260°C.

A still further advantage of the present invention is that the interleaving can be coloured so that the interleaving is immediately visible e.g. black, blue or other easily visible colours.

A still further advantage of the present invention is that the interleaving can be part of a bag or the bag may even consist entirely of the foil.

The above objective is accomplished by a use according to the present invention.

A first aspect of the present invention is realized by a use of a foil for separating food at a temperature at or below 0°C, said foil having a contact surface, wherein said contact surface of said foil is a polymer comprising monomer units in which at least 30 mol% of said monomer units are polyfluorohydrocarbon monomer units, preferably perfluorohydrocarbon units, and/or perfluoroalkylvinylether monomer units, with a temperature at or below -3°C being preferred and a temperature at or below -10°C being particularly preferred.

Particular and preferred aspects of the invention are set out in the accompanying independent and dependent claims. Features from the dependent claims may be combined with features of the independent claims and with features of other dependent claims as appropriate and not merely as explicitly set out in the claims.

Although there has been constant improvement, change and evolution of materials in this field, the present concepts are believed to represent substantial new and novel improvements, including departures from prior practices, resulting in the provision of

improved materials for use in this field.

The above and other characteristics, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention. This description is given for the sake of example only, without limiting the scope of the invention. The reference figures quoted below refer to the attached drawings.

Description of illustrative embodiments

Furthermore, the terms first, second, third and the like in the description and in the claims, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking or in any other manner. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that the embodiments of the invention described herein are capable of operation in other sequences than described or illustrated herein.

Moreover, the terms top, bottom, over, under and the like in the description and the claims are used for descriptive purposes and not necessarily for describing relative positions. It is to be understood that the terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances and that the embodiments of the invention described herein are capable of operation in other orientations than described or illustrated herein.

It is to be noticed that the term "comprising", used in the claims, should not be interpreted as being restricted to the means listed thereafter; it does not exclude other elements or steps. Tt is thus to be interpreted as specifying the presence of the stated features, integers, steps or components as referred to, but does not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps or components, or groups thereof.

Thus, the scope of the expression "a device comprising means A and B" should not be limited to devices consisting only of components A and B. It means that with respect to the present invention, the only relevant components of the device are A and B. Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, but may. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from this

disclosure, in one or more embodiments.

Similarly it should be appreciated that in the description of exemplary embodiments of the invention, various features of the invention are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the disclosure and aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventive aspects. This method of disclosure, however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed invention requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims following the detailed description are hereby expressly incorporated into this detailed description, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of this invention.

Furthermore, while some embodiments described herein include some but not other features included in other embodiments, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention, and form different embodiments, as would be understood by those in the art. For example, in the following claims, any of the claimed embodiments can be used in any combination.

Furthermore, some of the embodiments are described herein as a method or combination of elements of a method that can be implemented by a processor of a computer system or by other means of carrying out the function. Thus, a processor with the necessary instructions for carrying out such a method or element of a method forms a means for carrying out the method or element of a method. Furthermore, an element described herein of an apparatus embodiment is an example of a means for carrying out the function performed by the element for the purpose of carrying out the invention.

In the description provided herein, numerous specific details are set forth.

However, it is understood that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this description.

The invention will now be described by a detailed description of several embodiments of the invention. It is clear that other embodiments of the invention can be configured according to the knowledge of persons skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit or technical teaching of the invention, the invention being limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

Other arrangements for accomplishing the objectives of the use disclosed herein embodying the invention will be obvious for those skilled in the art.

It is to be understood that although preferred embodiments, specific constructions and configurations, as well as materials, have been discussed herein for the use according to the present invention, various changes or modifications in form and detail may be made without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention. Steps may be added or deleted to methods described within the scope of the present invention.

The following terms are provided solely to aid in the understanding of the invention.

Definitions FEP is the abbreviation for a copolymer of hexafluoropropene (hexafluoropropylene) and tetrafluoroethene (tetrafluoro ethylene).

PVDF is the abbreviation for polyvinylidene fluoride or poly(1,2-difluoroethene), which is sold under the registered tradename TeflonTM FEP (DuPont).

Teflon is a registed tradename (DuPont) for polytetrafluoroethene (polytetrafluoroethylene). Polytetrafluoroethene is also known by the abbreviation PTFE.

PFA (perfluoroalkoxy) is a copolymer of perfluoromethylvinylether and tetrafluoroethene (tetrafluoroethylene), which is sold under the registered trade names Teflon-PFA (DuPont), Neoflon-PFA (Daikin) and Hyflon-PFA (Solvay Solexis). Foil

The foil used in the firs aspect of the present invention has a degree of flexibility, is readily cuttable, is substantially non-deformable at room temperature and below, is non-porous and may be of any shape, but will typically have two substantially parallel substantially flat continuous surfaces.

The foil used in the first aspect of the present invention preferably has a thickness between 1Otm and 25Otm, with a thickness between 25i..tm and 2OOtm being particularly preferred, a thickness between 5Otm and 15Otm being especially preferred and a thickness between 7Oim and 12Oim being especially particularly preferred.

The foil used in the first aspect of the present invention is preferably white, red, blue, grey or black.

The foil used in the first aspect of the present invention preferably contains a filler e.g. a pigment such as carbon black. This filler is preferably selected from the group consisting of organic fibres e.g. polyamide fibres and inorganic fibres e.g. glass fibres.

This filler can also be in the form of a core material, which strengthens the foil. Examples of such strengthening materials are woven or non-woven fabrics e.g. of polyamide fibres, metallic meshes, inorganic cores such as glass fibres e.g. in the form of a network/lattice The foil use in the first aspect of the present invention having a contact surface of a polymer comprising monomer units in which at least 30 mol% of said monomer units are polyfluorohydrocarbon monomer units and/or perfluoroalkylvinylether monomer units can be realised, depending upon the specific monomer units, by sintering, cosintering, extrusion or coextrusion and the foil may incorporate a core of a stiffening material to which the polymer is applied e.g. by coating with particles using a dispersion either electrostatically or electrophoretically followed by sintering, lamination or coexttrusion.

Polytetrafluoroethene is not extrudable. Foil may be sliced off a block, which can be any shape but is preferably cylindrical. Use

In a first embodiment of the first aspect, according to the present invention, at least 50% of said monomer units are polyfluorohydrocarbon monomer units, preferably perfluorohydrocarbon units, and/or perfluoroalkylvinylether monomer units.

In a second embodiment of the first aspect, according to the present invention, at least 70% of said monomer units are polyfluorohydrocarbon monomer units, preferably perfluorohydrocarbon units, and/or perfluoroalkylvinylether monomer units, with 100% of said monomer units being polyfluorohydrocarbon monomer units, preferably perfiurorohydrocarbon monomer units, and/or perfluoroalkylvinylether monomer units being particularly preferred.

In a third embodiment of the first aspect, according to the present invention, said polyfluorohydrocarbon monomer unit is selected from the group consisting of vinylidene fluoride, 1,2-difluoroethene, trifluoroethene, tetrafluoroethene, trifluoropropene, tetrafluoropropene, pentafluoropropene and hexafluoropropene.

In a fourth embodiment of the first aspect, according to the present invention, said polyfluoroalkylvinylether monomer unit is selected from the group consisting of perfluoromethylvinylether, perfluoroethylvinylether and perfluoropropylvinylether.

In a fifth embodiment of the first aspect, according to the present invention, said polymer is polyvinylidene fluoride.

In a sixth embodiment of the first aspect, according to the present invention, said polymer is polytetrafluoroethene (Teflon®).

In a seventh embodiment of the first aspect, according to the present invention, said polymer is polyhexafluoropropene.

In an eighth embodiment of the first aspect, according to the present invention, said polymer is a copolymer of hexafluoropropene (hexafluoropropylene) and tetrafluoroethene (tetrafluoroethylene).

n a ninth embodiment of the first aspect, according to the present invention, said polymer is a copolymer of perfluoromethylvinyl ether and tetrafluoroethene (tetrafluoroethylene).

In a tenth embodiment of the first aspect, according to the present invention, said foil is at least part of a bag.

In an eleventh embodiment of the first aspect, according to the present invention, said foil is use to make a bag.

In a twelfth embodiment of the first aspect, according to the present invention, said food is selected from the group consisting of meat, fish and bread.

In a thirteenth embodiment of the first aspect, according to the present invention, said foil is suitable for use in food preparation at temperatures up to 25 0°C.

In a fourteenth embodiment of the first aspect, according to the present invention, such foil is suitable after sterilization for reuse in food storage.

In a fifteenth embodiment of the first aspect, according to the present invention, such foil is suitable after sterilization for reuse in food preparation..

Suitable sterilisation processes include exposure to high temperatures, ionizing radiation and UV-irradiation.

Claims

CLAIMS1. Use of a foil for separating food at a temperature at or below 0°C, said foil having a contact surface, wherein said contact surface of said foil is a polymer comprising monomer units in which at least 30 rnol% of said monomer units are polyfluorohydrocarbon monomer units, preferably perfluorohydrocarbon units, and/or perfluoroalkylvinylether monomer units.
2. The use according to claim 1, wherein at least 50% of said monomer units are polyfluorohydrocarbon monomer units, preferably perfluorohydrocarbon units, and/or perfluoroalkylvinylether monomer units.
3. The use according to claim 1 or 2, wherein at least 70% of said monomer units are polyfluorohydrocarbon monomer units, preferably perfluorohydrocarbon units, and/or perfluoroalkylvinylether monomer units.
4. The use according to any one of claims ito 3, wherein said polyfluorohydrocarbon monomer unit is selected from the group consisting of vinylidene fluoride, i,2-difluoroethene, trifluoroethene, tetrafluoroethene, trifluoropropene, tetrafluoropropene, pentafluoropropene and hexafluoropropene.
5. The use according to any one of claims ito 3, wherein said polyfluoroalkylvinylether monomer unit is selected from the group consisting of perfluoromethylvinylether, perfluoroethylvinylether and perfluoropropylvinylether.
6. The use according to any one of claims i to 4, wherein said polymer is polyvinylidene fluoride.
7. The use according to any one of claims i to 4, wherein said polymer is polytetrafluoroethene (Teflon).
8. The use according to any one of claims ito 4, wherein said polymer is polyhexafluoropropene.
9. The use according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said polymer is a copolymer of hexafluoropropene and tetrafluoroethene (FEP).
10. The use according to any one of claims ito 5, wherein said polymer is a copolymer of perfluoromethylvinyl ether and tetrafluoroethene.
ii. The use according to any one of claims 1 to 10, wherein said foil contains a filler.
12. The use according to any one of claims ito 10, wherein said filler is selected from the group consisting of organic and inorganic fibres.
13. The use according to any one of claims ito 12, wherein said foil is al least part of a bag.
14. The use according to claim 13, wherein said bag consists entirely of said foil.
15. The use according to any one of claims ito 14, wherein said food is selected from the group consisting of meat, fish and bread.
16. The use according to any one of claims ito 15, wherein said foil is suitable for use in food preparation at temperatures up to 250°C.
17. The use according to any one of claims 1 to 16, wherein said foil is suitable after sterilization for reuse in food storage.
18. The use according to any one of claims ito 17, wherein said foil is suitable after sterilization for reuse in food preparation.