GB2562712A

GB2562712A - Food Packaging

Info

Publication number: GB2562712A
Application number: GB1706333.0A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Mark Bushnell Peter
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2017-04-20
Filing date: 2017-04-20
Publication date: 2018-11-28
Also published as: GB201706333D0

Abstract

Food packaging is made up of individual food containers 1 each having a base 2, usually rectangular, with walls 3 rising from the perimeter of the base 2. The walls 3 diverge outwardly, to a lip 4 around the top of the walls 3. A sealing strip 5, preferably elastomeric, extends around an upper portion of the inner face of the walls 3. A second identical food container may be inserted into the top of the container to contact the strip 5 to provide a sealed container in which food, such as steaks, can be stored in an inert pressurised atmosphere. Several such containers can be arranged into a stack with the top container closed by a lid having a diverging profile like the containers. The containers 1 are preferably made of rigid, cleanable material for ease of recycling. A delivery vehicle (20, Figure 6) can be fitted with a cargo compartment (22) for filled container stacks and a washing machine (25) for cleaning in transit returned empty containers 1 collected from delivery locations. The washing machine is powered by the vehicle engine.

Description

(71) Applicant(s):

Peter Mark Bushnell

Eastcote Road, Gayton, Northampton, NN7 3HF, United Kingdom (72) Inventor(s):

Peter Mark Bushnell (74) Agent and/or Address for Service:

Franks & Co (South) Ltd

Carlton House, 26 Billing Road, NORTHAMPTON, NN1 5AT, United Kingdom (51) INT CL:

B65D 21/032 (2006.01) (56) Documents Cited:

GB 1459919 A GB 1458505 A

DE 020219495 U1 (58) Field of Search:

INTCLA47J, B65D

Other: EPODOC, WPI, Patent Fulltext (54) Title of the Invention: Food Packaging

Abstract Title: Stackable Food packaging and delivery vehicle (57) Food packaging is made up of individual food containers 1 each having a base 2, usually rectangular, with walls 3 rising from the perimeter of the base 2. The walls 3 diverge outwardly, to a lip 4 around the top of the walls 3. A sealing strip 5, preferably elastomeric, extends around an upper portion of the inner face of the walls 3. A second identical food container may be inserted into the top of the container to contact the strip 5 to provide a sealed container in which food, such as steaks, can be stored in an inert pressurised atmosphere. Several such containers can be arranged into a stack with the top container closed by a lid having a diverging profile like the containers. The containers 1 are preferably made of rigid, cleanable material for ease of recycling. A delivery vehicle (20, Figure 6) can be fitted with a cargo compartment (22) for filled container stacks and a washing machine (25) for cleaning in transit returned empty containers 1 collected from delivery locations. The washing machine is powered by the vehicle engine.

The claims were filed later than the filing date but within the period prescribed by Rule 22(1) of the Patents Rules 2007.

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FOOD PACKAGING

The present invention relates to an improved form of food packaging. More particularly but not exclusively, it relates to packaging for multiple individual items. The invention further relates to equipment for cleaning and recycling such improved packaging.

It is nowadays commonplace for foodstuffs, particularly meat, to be supplied packaged, for example shrink-wrapped in a plastics film. This is not only the case for domestic purchase through retailers, but also for the sort of volumes required by catering establishments, such as restaurants.

Taking packaged meat as a prime example, the plastics film must have both strength and barrier properties, which can only be provided by use of multi-layer films of unusual thickness. For example, where a carrier bag might use 25-30 micron singlelayer plastics film, the film for meat packaging is generally 300 microns thick and comprises five layers. The cost of the plastics packaging for a single joint of meat can as a result be as much as 45 pence. Additionally, the layers cannot be separated for recycling, and readily biodegradable plastics cannot be used.

For joints where bones are exposed, such as rib roasts, 7-layered plastics are used, for additional resistance against bone ends penetrating the packaging. Even so, 20% or more of plastic-wrapped rib roasts, etc, have to be rejected as “blowers”, sufficient of a hole having been made to allow air into the package.

An additional problem with such shrink-wrapped meat is that blood tends to be drawn out of the meat, and congregates between the meat and the plastics film. If the packaging is opened and the meat is stood for long enough, this blood will mainly reabsorb into the meat. However, in a catering environment, it is rarely possible to wait long enough. The result is that the meat is then cooked complete with a coating of blood, which imparts a liver-like flavour, not to the advantage of the taste of the joint as a whole.

A further problem of supplying food stocks to restaurants and other catering establishments is the waste of packaging. It would be preferable if any novel packaging could be recycled, or better still returned for re-use. However, this may need to be balanced with the need for suppliers to install equipment to clean the packaging to a sufficient degree for food contact use. The economics of recycling, re-use or disposal are often very finely balanced, so any improvements in this regard could be highly significant.

It is hence an object of the present invention to provide food packaging that obviates some or all of the above drawbacks of existing packaging, and it is a further object to provide a means of cleaning such packaging for repeated use.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided transport and storage packaging for foodstuffs, comprising a vessel to contain said foodstuffs, wherein said vessel comprises base means with continuous upstanding wall means extending around a perimeter of the base means so as to define a storage volume, said wall means diverging upwardly, and wherein sealing means extends around an upper portion of the wall means, such that the base means of a first said vessel is insertable into an upper portion of the storage volume of a second said vessel, thereby contacting the sealing means of the second vessel, so as to form a gastight seal between said first and second vessels.

The first vessel may thus act as lid means, sealing the second vessel.

Preferably, the storage volume of the sealed second vessel contains an inert atmosphere.

Advantageously, said inert atmosphere contains no oxygen gas.

Said inert atmosphere may contain carbon dioxide gas.

Preferably, the scaling means extends around an internal face of the continuous wall means.

Advantageously, the sealing means comprises a resilient plastics material.

The sealing means may comprise an elastomeric plastics material.

Preferably, the sealing means is adapted to grip the first vessel, thereby retaining the first and second vessels together.

Preferably, the sealing means is removable and replaceable.

The sealing means may thus be removed to simplify cleaning of the vessel.

The vessel may be provided with seat means to receive the sealing means.

Optionally, said seat means may comprise recess means, such as one or more groove means, extending around the internal face of the continuous wall means of the vessel, so as to receive the sealing means locatingly.

Preferably, the or each vessel comprises a substantially rigid material.

Advantageously, said substantially rigid material comprises a glass or ceramic material.

The transport and storage packaging preferably comprises a plurality of identical said vessels, arranged in a stack with each vessel except an uppermost one having a vessel above it in the stack inserted sealingly into its upper portion to form lid means.

In an alternative embodiment, the transport and storage packaging comprises said vessel to contain foodstuffs and associated lid means, wherein said lid means comprises lid base means substantially identical to the base means of the vessel, with continuous upstanding lid wall means extending around the perimeter of the lid base means, wherein said lid wall means diverge upwardly substantially identically to the wall means of the vessel, but extend vertically less than the wall means of the vessel, such that the lid base means is insertable into an upper portion of the storage volume of the vessel, with the lid wall means contacting the sealing means of the vessel, so as to form a gastight seal between the vessel and the lid means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a motor vehicle adapted to transport the transport and storage packaging as described in the first aspect above, said motor vehicle being provided with a warewashing machine adapted to wash empty vessels of said transport and storage packaging, said warewashing machine being powered by an engine of the motor vehicle.

Preferably, the warewashing machine uses water heated by the engine of the motor vehicle.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of delivering goods in their packaging comprising the steps of providing a motor vehicle as described in the second aspect above; transporting said goods from a starting point to a delivery point using said motor vehicle; recovering from the delivery point packaging that has been emptied of said goods; and washing said recovered packaging in the warewashing machine of the motor vehicle while the motor vehicle returns to the starting point.

Preferably, goods are transported to a plurality of delivery points, and emptied packaging is recovered at some or all of said delivery points and is washed in the warewashing machine between delivery points as well as during return to the starting point.

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described by way of example and with reference to the Figures of the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is an isometric view of a food container embodying the present invention;

Figure 2 is a lateral cross-section of the food container shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a lateral cross-section of the food container shown in Figure 1, filled;

Figure 4 is a lateral cross-section of a stack of food containers, each as shown in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a schematic side elevation of a dispenser containing a stack of food containers as shown in Figure 4;

Figure 6 is a schematic side elevation of a delivery vehicle embodying the present inventions;

Figure 7 is a schematic cross-sectional elevation of a warewashing system as fitted to the vehicle shown in Figure 6; and

Figure 8 is a schematic map of a delivery route to be followed by the delivery vehicle shown in Figure 5.

Referring now to the Figures, and to Figure 1 in particular, a food vessel or container 1 embodying the present invention comprises a base 2, substantially rectangular in this example, with four walls 3 each extending upwardly from a respective edge of the base 2 and joined at their corners to form a continuous circuit of walls 3. The walls 3 each slope gently outwardly, such that a lip 4 running along a top of each wall 3 is the same shape as the base 2, but proportionately larger (in geometrical terms, a “similar” shape but not a “congruent” one).

The base 2 and walls 3 may be made of glass, especially heat-resistant/toughened glass, or ceramic, or any other convenient rigid, strong material. Although metals could be used, material transparent to microwaves would usually be preferred.

A sealing strip 5 runs around the walls 3, on an internal face, just below the lip 4. The sealing strip 5 comprises a resilient, compressible elastomeric polymer. The location of this sealing strip 5 is more clearly visible in Figure 2, which also shows how the walls 3 diverge upwardly, and how this structure provides a significant interior volume 6 for the container 1.

In Figure 3, this interior volume 6 is shown occupied by an item of food, here a raw steak 7. In order to preserve the steak 7 or other food item in optimum condition, a remainder of the interior volume 6 is filled with an atmosphere comprising substantially only carbon dioxide, CO2. This avoids oxidation of the food, and if kept at a pressure of approximately 1 atmosphere, also avoids drawing fluids out of the food.

To retain this atmosphere within the interior volume 6, and so as to protect the steak 7, etc, from contamination, the food container 1 is sealed as shown in Figure 4. A first said food container la contains a steak 7. A second, identical said food container lb, also containing a steak 7, is inserted into an open upper end of the first food container la. Due to the angle of the respective walls 3a, 3b, a lower part of the walls 3b of the second food container lb fits within an upper part of the walls 3a of the first food container la, contacting the sealing strip 5a along its entire length. This encloses the interior volume 6a of the first food container la, the sealing strip 5a forming a gas-tight seal. If the second food container lb is inserted sufficiently firmly, the sealing strip 5a is compressed and/or deformed, and will grip the walls 3b of the second food container lb securely, holding the first and second food containers la, lb together.

The second food container lb thus acts as a lid for the first food container la.

As an alternative to a filled food container lb acting as a lid, an empty food container lc may be used, as also shown in Figure 4. The three containers la, lb, lc have identical dimensions, the only difference being that third food container lc contains no food 7 and its internal volume 6c is not filled with an inert atmosphere. The third food container lc can thus be fitted within an upper part of the walls 3b of the second food container lb, contacting the sealing strip 5b of the second food container lb. The empty third food container lc thus acts as a lid for the second food container lb, sealing in the inert atmosphere in its internal volume 6b and protecting the food 7.

It is thus possible to build up a stack 8 of food containers 1, each (bar one) sealed by one above it in the stack 8, and only the topmost food container lc not containing safely stored food 7. The number of food containers 1 in the stack 8 will be limited mainly by case of handling (height, overall weight) and by the strength of the grip provided by the sealing strip 5 to hold adjacent containers 1 in the stack 8 together.

Thus a caterer can buy a stack of six steaks 7, for example, stored in a stack 8 of seven food containers 1. As and when a steak 7 is ordered, the caterer can then separate the lowest food container la of the stack 8 and extract the steak 7 ready for use. The remainder of the stack 8 remains sealed for later opening and use.

As a further alternative (not shown), the food container 1 may be used as packaging for retail goods. Instead of a stack 8 of food containers 1, a single food container 1 holds food in an inert atmosphere, and is sealed with a lid. This lid corresponds to the base 2 of a food container 1 and a lower portion only of the walls 3. The lid can thus be inserted into the upper end of a food container 1 with the walls of the lid contacting the sealing strip 5 along its whole length for sealing purposes, but the walls of the lid do not extend substantially/significantly above the walls of the vessel. The lid would preferably be made of the same materials as the vessel, but since the lid would never have to perform as a food container 1, it could be made from less tough or heat-resistant materials, for example.

Figure 5 shows a form of dispenser 9 that may conveniently be used with a stack 8 of food containers 1. The dispenser 9 comprises a pair of opposed angled panels 10, arranged so as to contact opposite walls 3b of a food container lb in the stack 8. The angled panels 10 are either inherently resilient or are rigid but resiliently mounted. In either case, the weight of a full stack 8 of filled food containers 1 is insufficient to pivot or bend the panels 10 back, but added downwardly manual pressure is enough to move the stack 8 downwardly, deflecting the panels 10 sufficiently for the wider upper part of a food container lb to pass between them. The panels 10 will then spring back to grasp the next food container 1 in the stack 8 between them. The caterer may thus pull down as many food containers 1 as are required from the stack 8, releasing each one to use its contents.

The food containers 1 shown have further advantages. They are robust enough for use as preparation vessels - for example a marinade being poured over a steak 7 while still in the container 1. Where the food containers 1 are of heat-resistant glass or ceramic, their contents could be heated in a microwave or conventional oven. Thus, the food containers 1 could be used to hold ready-prepared meals or meal components, as well as raw materials. (Depending on its thermal properties, the sealing strip 5 might have to be removed before heating).

As noted above, one problem with food packaging is recycling or re-use, especially for packaging directly contacting food. The food containers 1 of the present invention are eminently suitable to be washed and re-used, for example in conventional warewashing machinery (the commercial counterpart to a domestic dishwashing machine). It may be necessary to remove the sealing strips 5 for separate cleaning, to avoid food matter remaining in hard-to-access places below or beneath the sealing strip 5 itself.

Unfortunately, the economics of washing such containers may be tight. It is straightforward for a delivery vehicle to pick up empty used food containers 1 when dropping off stacks 8 of filled food containers 1. However, the used food containers 1 must then be cleaned before re-use.

This issue is addressed by a delivery vehicle 20 embodying the present invention, as shown in Figure 6. This delivery vehicle 20 is shown schematically as a large van, although it could be scaled down to a light van or scaled up to a light truck or larger, depending on the volumes of foodstuffs to be delivered.

The delivery vehicle 20 illustrated has a conventional cab 21 and a cargo compartment 22 provided with shelving 23 or other storage arrangements suitable for stacks 8 of food containers 1, and optionally other packages of food products for delivery. The cargo compartment 22 may be provided with a conventional cooling or refrigeration system 24. The novel feature of this delivery vehicle 20 is the presence between the cab 21 and the cargo compartment 22 of a warewashing machine 25. This may be accessible through the cargo compartment 22, the cab 21 or a door or hatch in one side of the delivery vehicle 20.

The warewashing machine 25 is used for washing empty, used food containers 1, which have been picked up by the delivery vehicle 20, ideally while dropping off filled food containers 1 at a catering premises or other delivery point. As shown in more detail in Figure 7, the warewashing machine 25 is operatively connected to the engine 26 of the delivery vehicle 20, via a hot water line 27 and an electrical power line 28. (Note: the hot water line 27 is shown schematically as a direct connection to a cooling system of the engine 26, for simplicity, although in practice it might take the form of a system with a separate water supply pumped through a heat exchanger to pick up heat from the engine 26).

Within the warewashing machine 25, dirty food containers Id arc brought up to a conventional hot water spraying system 28 and are automatically washed before being dried and stored in a stock of cleaned food containers le. Since the warewashing machine 25 is powered by the engine 26 of the delivery vehicle 20, the warewashing machine 25 can be operated while the vehicle 20 is travelling between delivery points or back to its starting point. The warewashing machine 25 may then be opened and the stock of cleaned food containers le removed.

While it may be necessary to carry out a final cleaning and sterilisation step before the washed food containers le are re-used, depending on the foodstuff to be stored and transported, this still produces a significant saving in time, allows a reduction in the total stock of food containers 1 (since there is no need for a stock of dirty food containers Id to be built up for subsequent washing), and is likely to save money and energy (since the heat from the engine 26 used in the warewashing machine 25 would otherwise go to waste).

The “life cycle” of the food containers 1 can be shown schematically as in Figure 8. A food preparation facility 30 is a starting point and a finishing point. Here, foodstuffs are prepared and packed into food containers 1 built up into stacks 8 of a suitable size for a particular order (e.g. a stack of six fillet steaks, a stack of four salmon steaks; a stack of eight part-baked quiches; and so forth).

A delivery vehicle 20 is loaded with stacks 8 of food containers 1 made up for a variety of customers, and follows a delivery route as shown. The route shown goes to a variety of different types of customer for illustration purposes; a practical route would probably take in only certain types. Here, the delivery vehicle 20 drops off a periodic order of meat and fish at several pubs 31 and/or larger restaurant premises 32. Also included are deliveries of entire prepared meals for subsequent heating, as well as smaller quantities of meat, fish, etc, to domestic premises 33. A daily delivery to larger premises 34 (a hotel, a hospital, a school) is also included.

At each stage, appropriate stacks 8 of filled food containers 1 are delivered, and any empty, used food containers Id are collected and loaded onto the warewashing machine 25 of the delivery vehicle 20. These are washed as the delivery vehicle 20 proceeds along its route. With the correct sizing of warewashing machine 25, each batch of empty, used food containers Id loaded into the machine 25 should have progressed at least partway through the washing sequence shown in Figure 7 before the next delivery on the route is made, and a further batch of empty, dirty food containers Id is picked up and loaded. Thus, by the time that the delivery vehicle 20 completes its route and returns to the food preparation facility 30, multiple batches of food containers 1 will have gone through the warewashing machine 25 and can be uploaded for rapid re-use (with a quick final cleansing step where required).

04 18

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. Transport and storage packaging for foodstuffs, comprising a vessel to contain said foodstuffs, wherein said vessel comprises base means with continuous upstanding wall means extending around a perimeter of the base means so as to define a storage volume, said wall means diverging upwardly, and wherein sealing means is provided, extending around an upper portion of the wall means, such that the base means of a first said vessel is insertable into an upper portion of the storage volume of a second said vessel, thereby contacting the sealing means of the second vessel and forming a gastight seal between said first and second vessels.

2. Transport and storage packaging as claimed in Claim 1, wherein said first vessel thereby acts as lid means, sealing said second vessel.

3. Transport and storage packaging as claimed in either Claim 1 or Claim 2, wherein the storage volume of the sealed second vessel contains an inert atmosphere.

4. Transport and storage packaging as claimed in Claim 3, wherein said inert atmosphere contains no oxygen gas.

5. Transport and storage packaging as claimed in either Claim 3 or Claim 4, wherein said inert atmosphere contains carbon dioxide gas.

6. Transport and storage packaging as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the sealing means extends around an internal face of the continuous wall means.

7. Transport and storage packaging as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the sealing means comprises a resilient plastics material.

8. Transport and storage packaging as claimed in Claim 7, wherein the sealing means comprises an elastomeric plastics material.

9. Transport and storage packaging as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the sealing means is adapted to grip the first vessel, thereby retaining the first and second vessels together.

10. Transport and storage packaging as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the sealing means is removable and replaceable.

LO O

11. Transport and storage packaging as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the vessel is provided with seat means to receive the sealing means.

12. Transport and storage packaging is claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the or each vessel comprises a substantially rigid material.

13. Transport and storage packaging as claimed in Claim 12, wherein said substantially rigid material comprises a glass or ceramic material.

14. Transport and storage packaging as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, comprising a plurality of identical said vessels arranged in a stack, with each

05 04 18 vessel except an uppermost vessel having a vessel located above it in the stack inserted sealingly into its upper portion to form lid means.

15. Transport and storage packaging as claimed in Claim 1, comprising said vessel to contain foodstuffs and an associated lid means, wherein said lid means comprises lid base means substantially identical to the base means of the vessel, with continuous upstanding lid wall means extending around a perimeter of the lid base means, wherein said lid wall means diverge upwardly substantially identically to the wall means of the vessel, but have a vertical extent less than that of the wall means of the vessel, such that the lid base means is insertable into an upper portion of the storage volume of the vessel, with the lid wall means contacting the sealing means of the vessel and forming a gastight seal between the vessel and the lid means.

16. A motor vehicle adapted to transport transport and storage packaging as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, said motor vehicle being provided with a warewashing machine adapted to wash empty vessels of said transport and storage packaging, and said warewashing machine being powered by an engine of the motor vehicle.

17. A motor vehicle as claimed in Claim 16, where the warewashing machine uses water heated by the engine of the motor vehicle.

18. A method of delivering goods in their packaging comprising the steps of providing a motor vehicle as claimed in either Claim 16 or Claim 17; transporting said goods from a starting point to a delivery point using said motor vehicle; recovering from the delivery point used packaging that has been

05 04 18 emptied of said goods; and washing said recovered used packaging in the warewashing machine of the motor vehicle while the motor vehicle returns to the starting point.

19. A method of delivering goods as claimed in Claim 18, wherein said goods are transported to a plurality of delivery points; and emptied used packaging is recovered at some or all of said delivery points and is washed in the warewashing machine between delivery points as well as during return to the starting point.

20. A method of delivering goods as claimed in either Claim 18 or Claim 19, wherein the packaging of the goods comprises transport and storage packaging as claimed in any one of Claims 1 to 14.

Intellectual

Property Office

Application No: GB1706333.0