JP2003252374A - Free-oxygen absorber package with oxygen detecting function - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a free-oxygen absorber package with an oxygen detecting function which directly includes the oxygen detecting function in the free-oxygen absorber package, can be manufactured without increasing working hours, and is further equipped with an excellent bag-making seal by controlling its material, a compressive modulus in particular. <P>SOLUTION: The free-oxygen absorber with an oxygen detecting function comprises a free-oxygen absorber packaging bag packaged with a multi-layered packaging material. The bag has an outermost layer formed of a film having at least one or more transparent portions from which the inside can be viewed. A color reaction tape which varies in hue is fixedly sandwiched between a rear face of the film and a subsequent packaging material in contact with at least a part of the transparent portion of the film. Alternatively, a thickness of the color reaction tape is further specified to be 10 to 40% of a thickness of the free-oxygen absorber packaging material, and compressibility of the tape and the material is specified to be 15% or more for 10 kg/cm<SP>2</SP>. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2003,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an oxygen scavenger used for deoxidizing various types of packaging containers, and more specifically, it is used in packaging containers for foods, foodstuffs, chemicals or metal products whose quality is easily deteriorated by oxygen. The present invention relates to a package of an oxygen scavenger having a detector function added so that the effect of the oxygen absorber can be detected and visually recognized.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Oxygen contained in the atmosphere causes an oxidative reaction and promotes the growth of aerobic bacteria. Therefore, for the preservation and management of food ingredients, etc., the oxygen is contained in a container package to shut off the atmosphere. Often loaded with an oxygen absorber. Further, for more accurate quality control, it may be required to have a detection function for confirming that the anoxic state was maintained during the storage period. Various proposals have been made to meet the request.

For example, since it has been widely known that an ink that exhibits a color reaction depending on the oxygen residual ratio state is used to display the state, it is possible to visually recognize the ink by impregnating it with a holding material or coating it. By using the oxygen detector (or oxygen indicator) at the same time as the deoxidizing material,
You can check the maintenance of anoxia. Methylene blue, which is widely used as this oxygen detector, is a thiazine-based dye, and when the hydrogen ion concentration is in the range of 10 to 12 in the presence of the reducing agent in the electrolytic solution of a certain reduction potential, oxygen is released. It is known that the color is blue, and when oxygen is deficient, it is colored unemployed or slightly yellowish.

[0004] The detection agent that has been publicly announced and is currently used in the market is a color reaction ink containing methylene blue as a main component and a reducing sugar as a reducing agent, which is dissolved and dispersed as an electrolytic solution in paper or fiber. Sheet-like or string-like material that is impregnated and coated on textured yarn, or tablets that are powder compression-molded with alkali metal oxides are covered with a transparent polymer film to prevent ink transfer, and oxygen vents are partially provided. Are provided.

When a food or the like is stored in a container or a storage bag for storage, it is usually loaded with an oxygen scavenger. At this time, if the method of separately inserting the oxygen detecting agent is adopted, it takes another labor to load the oxygen detecting agent, and there is a risk of forgetting to insert the oxygen detecting agent. Therefore, it is often attached to the outer surface of the oxygen absorber package. Further, some of them have an oxygen detection function by filling an individual (oxygen detection agent) impregnated with a color reaction ink into a packaging bag having a transparent part together with an oxygen scavenger.

[0006] With respect to the oxygen detecting agent having such a function, it has been customary from the viewpoint of economical efficiency and work efficiency to put one in one storage bag containing a plurality of foods to be preserved. In order to maintain the freshness of each food to be preserved, it is now required to have a quality capability that can be confirmed. In a storage bag containing one food to be preserved, one oxygen detector and one oxygen scavenger are required. Put in and have fulfilled quality requirements.

[0007]

Various techniques have been developed for a freshness-retaining agent for foods and the like, but an oxygen scavenger is a freshness-retaining agent for protecting foods and the like from deterioration caused by oxygen in the atmosphere. is there. Further, the oxygen detector is developed to detect the deoxidizing effect of the oxygen scavenger, and to make it possible to trace and monitor the performance of the deoxidizing performance. In other words, the oxygen detection agent was developed and put into practical use after the oxygen absorber, so the oxygen detector with oxygen detection function is manufactured in a separate manufacturing process, and when the food etc. is stored in the storage container. It has been used in combination. Therefore, combining the oxygen detection function with the oxygen scavenger adds to the manufacturing cost of the oxygen sensor that is manufactured in a separate process, increasing the overall manufacturing cost and the workload of loading the storage bag with the oxygen scavenger. Also increases.

On the other hand, the chemical component of the color reaction ink of the oxygen detection agent is weak against light irradiation and high temperature conditions, and in particular, it has a drawback that the storage management work system becomes complicated due to the limitation of the light bath. Therefore, if the oxygen detector and the oxygen absorber package are formed as a joint body, the working time can be shortened and the deterioration due to exposure to the light bath can be improved.

For this reason, according to the present invention, in order to directly provide the oxygen scavenger package with an oxygen detecting function, a paper coloring layer is formed on the inner layer of the multi-layer wrapping material forming the oxygen scavenger bag. A reaction ink tape is incorporated, and the outer layer is made transparent so that the change in hue that occurs on the tape can be seen from the outside. By filling the oxygen absorber with the packaging material and then sealing the bag, it is possible to manufacture a package without any other device and without increasing the working time, or further, the material of the packaging material, especially the compression elasticity. An oxygen scavenger package with an oxygen detection function, which has an excellent bag-making seal by adjusting the rate.

[0010]

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention has the following structures. (1) In an oxygen scavenger bag packaged with a multi-layer packaging material,
The outer layer is formed of a film having at least one transparent portion whose inside can be seen, and is formed by a fibrous substance coated or impregnated with a color reaction ink between the back surface of the film and the layer of the next packaging material. An oxygen scavenger package with an oxygen detection function, characterized in that the colored reaction tape is placed so as to contact at least a part of the transparent portion of the film, and is sandwiched and fixed. (2) The thickness of the color reaction tape formed of the fibrous material is 10 to 40% of the thickness of the oxygen absorber packaging material, and the compression rate of the tape and oxygen absorber packaging material is 10 kg / cm ² . When the bag is manufactured, the inner layer material is compressed and deformed by the pressure applied to the sealing portion during bag making to make a bag, and the oxygen scavenger package with an oxygen detection function according to the above (1). (3) Under the atmosphere where the color reaction tape crosses the color reaction tape and a part of the tape is transparent so that it can be seen from the outside, and the color reaction tape has oxygen in the atmosphere. It consists of the outermost breathable film that is covered with a similar color to the color, and the hue difference of the color reaction tape in the deoxidized state can be noticed remarkably from the transparent strip,
The oxygen absorbing function-equipped oxygen scavenger package according to (1) or (2) above, wherein the color reaction is easily recognized. (4) The outermost film is composed of an oxygen-permeable silicone resin, and the heat-sealing polymer film located in the inner layer of the oxygen absorber packaging material is composed of a microporous polyolefin-based film. An oxygen absorber package with an oxygen detection function according to (3) above.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION The present invention will be described below in detail based on the embodiments shown in the drawings. The packaging material of the oxygen absorber packaging bag is a composite material in which several kinds of films are laminated. A composite packaging material having a fibrous tape such as paper impregnated or coated with a color reaction ink inside thereof is formed. With this packaging material, a package containing an oxygen absorber is manufactured. 3 packaging bags
It may be a one-sided seal (Fig. 1) or a four-sided seal (Fig. 4) packaging bag, but since it is hot and pressure-bonded (sealed) when the package is formed, Since there is a wall thickness difference between the portions sandwiching the tape and a load difference is generated in the vicinity of the tape when pressure is applied, an unhealthy region is created in the sealed state due to this. If there is this area, the oxygen absorber package will rupture when it is subjected to an external force such as transportation of the oxygen absorber at a later date,
There is a potential defect that the ink impregnated in the color reaction tape stains and contaminates foods.

FIG. 1 is an external view of a three-way sealed oxygen absorber package. FIG. 1 (A) is a plan view, and FIG. 1 (B) is an enlarged AA cross section of FIG. 1 (A). It is a figure. The three-way seal is formed by bending and stacking the packaging material, and heat-pressing the three edge portions excluding the bent portion to fuse (seal) 6.
An oxygen absorber 5 is loaded in the internal space. As shown in the cross section of FIG. 3 (C), the conventional packaging body is made of bag-like packaging material having a three-layer cross-sectional structure including an inner layer 1, an outer layer 3 and an intermediate layer 2. The present invention also employs a similar multi-layer structure, for example, an air-permeable sheet 2 made of a fibrous material as an intermediate layer, a microporous low melting point polymer film 1 as an inner layer, and an air-permeable sheet as a reinforcing sheet for an outer layer. 1 is a multi-layered structure in which a polymer film 3 having a higher strength than that of the fibrous material 2 is adhered, and a color reaction tape 4 is sandwiched between the intermediate layer 2 and the outer layer 3 and
Arrange as shown in (A).

The color reaction tape 4 is made of a fibrous material, and the color reaction ink is impregnated or coated on it. The ink is methylene blue, which is generally used in many cases, but may be thiazine-based ink, indigo-based ink, or the like as long as it shows the shade of oxygen in an airtight container, and is not particularly limited. In addition, one or both surfaces of the tape can be coated with a polymer having a low melting point (for example, LDPE) so that the tape can be heat-sealed by heating and pressing when forming the seal portion during bag making.

During bag making of the oxygen absorber package, heat is applied to the low melting point PE of the inner layer (perforated or microporous polymer film).
1 softens and fuses, and the bag is sealed. An example of the cross-sectional structure of the seal portion is enlarged and shown in FIG. Since the low melting point PE1 is pressed in the temperature region of thermal deformation by the heating and pressing action, the color reaction tape 4 and the fibrous air-permeable sheet 2 are not thermally deformed but are in a strained state. Therefore, if the rigidity is large, a convex step is formed only at the portion of the color reaction tape 4 as in the configuration of FIG. 3A, and it becomes difficult for the compression force to propagate in the vicinity thereof.
The three-way sealed oxygen absorber package has inferior sealing strength as compared to the sealed portion without the tape.

Accordingly, during the heating and pressing action, the pressure applied causes the permeable sheet 2 such as paper constituting the packaging material to be distorted to form a concave depression, and the tape 4 is compressed, whereby the tape 4 is compressed. Absorbs (stores) and eliminates the occurrence of steps. That is, it becomes possible if the material of the fibrous air-permeable sheet 2 and the color reaction tape 4 are softened. According to the present invention, the compression ratio of the color reaction tape 4 and the oxygen absorber packaging material was experimentally determined to be 10 kg / cm ^2.
It was found that the deterioration of the sealing strength after the sealing was within the allowable range when the tape 4 was 15% or more and the tape 4 was 10% or more and 40% or less of the thickness of the entire packaging material. The permissible range of the seal strength is 0.50 kg or more for a 15 mm wide sample when measured according to JIS Z1707.

A transparent film is used for the outer layer 3 of the bag, and an oblique transparent band 10 is provided so as to intersect with the color reaction tape 4 as shown in FIG. It is colored in the same color (for example, blue-green) as the color of the color reaction tape under the atmosphere. By doing so, the colored reaction tape 4 in the food container has the same color as the colored background of the film when oxygen is present, but when the oxygen-free state after deoxidation is reached, the anoxic state is displayed. Since a different color (for example, pink) is exhibited, a color different from the colored background of the film 3 can be visually recognized through the transparent belt 10.

FIG. 4 shows a four-side sealed packaging bag. In the figure, (A) is a perspective view, (B) is a sectional view taken along the line CC of FIG. (A), and (C) is a sectional view taken along the line D-D of FIG. The upper layer) is composed of, for example, an inner layer made of a low-melting point PE film 8 having heat sealing properties, an outer layer made of a perforated PET film 3, and a plurality of packaging materials in which a color reaction tape 4 is arranged between the layers of both layers, For example, the air-permeable PE non-woven fabric 7 forming the other side (lower layer) is heat-sealed 9 on four sides. In order to maintain the adhesive strength of the bonded portion of the colored reaction tape 4 between the breathable PE non-woven fabric 7 and the perforated PET film 3, the melted low melting point polymer film is easily pushed in the thickness direction of the tape 4, It is effective to use linear low melting point PE for the low melting point film 8.

[0018]

[Example 1] [Example of thickness ratio and compression ratio of tape and oxygen absorber packaging material] As shown in FIG.
The inner layer 1 has a heat-sealing and perforated 25 μm thick low-density polyethylene film, and the middle layer 2 is a water- and oil-resistant paper sheet, and the outer layer 3 is PE 15 μm with a heat-bonding function. Thick and perforated PET film 1
It is a multi-layered material which is composed of a composite material having a thickness of 2 μm and in which the color reaction tape 4 is incorporated. In the present invention, the resistant paper sheet 2 has a thickness of 200 μm and 150 μm, and the color reaction tape 4 having a thickness of 80 μm is sandwiched between the outer layer 3 and the resistant paper sheet 2 of the intermediate layer. The compressibility is 10 kg / cm ² , the color reaction tape is 15%, the oxygen absorber packaging material of the resistant paper sheet 200 μm is 19%, and the oxygen absorber packaging material of the resistant paper sheet 150 μm is 16%. For comparison, the thickness of the resistant paper is 130 μm
Then, a deoxidizer packaging material having a compressibility of 14% was used, and the color tape used had the same thickness of 80 μm as described above. The above packaging material is bent, and the three peripheral edges except the bent portion are 120
A bag was prepared by heating at 80 ° C. and sealing the width of 80 mm. Here, in order to investigate the breaking strength of the three-sided sealed bag, 1
A sample having a width of 5 mm was cut out and the peel strength was measured according to JIS Z1707. The results are shown in Table 1.

[0019]

[Table 1] Direction Part Example Comparative material 200 μm material 150 μm material 130 μm material Vertical part with tape 0.93kg 0.56kg 0.39kg Vertical part without tape 1.43kg 0.82kg 0.80kg Horizontal part without tape 0.70kg 0.70kg 0.69kg

From Table 1, the comparison material was unacceptable because the peel strength was reduced by 50% or more as compared with the case where the tape with the tape on the vertical portion was not provided. When the resistant paper sheet is 150 μm material, the peel strength is about 30 as compared with the case without tape.
%, But it was within the allowable range, and when the thickness of the resistant paper sheet was increased to 200 μm, it became weaker than that without the tape, but it was at a level without a problem.

[0021]

[Embodiment 2] [Example in which hue difference of color reaction ink is provided]
A three-way sealed oxygen absorber package shown in FIG.
The outer layer 2 of the packaging bag is made of a transparent film, and a color reaction tape having a width of 6 mm is sandwiched in the center line to form a multilayer. That is, the PET film of the outer layer 2 was provided such that diagonal transparent lines 10 having a width of 6 mm intersected the color reaction tape at intervals of 25 mm, and the other portions were colored blue green. The colored reaction ink is bluish green when oxygen is present, but is pink when deoxidized and without oxygen. This packaging material was filled with an oxygen scavenger to form a bag, which was then sealed in an airtight bag at the same time as the food and observed 24 hours later. As a result, the color reaction tape was colored in pink, and the color was sufficiently recognizable even at a distance of 3 m.

[0022]

[Embodiment 3] [Packaging material which does not cause ink transfer even when it comes into contact with food having high moisture and humidity] The color reaction ink is water-soluble. When the water contained in the food in the airtight bag evaporates and soaks into the color reaction tape of the oxygen absorber package, the color reaction ink is dissolved and color bleeding occurs. In addition, when the moisture retained by the oxygen scavenger oozes out into the fibrous sheet, it is considered that the ink spreads and spreads similarly. Therefore, the outer layer of the packaging material is a non-porous silicon resin film having good oxygen permeability, and the low melting point PE of the inner layer is biaxially stretched microporous PE to form a multi-layer material. The misery and deoxidation rate performance of the ink after packaging with an oxygen absorber were investigated. The results are shown in Table 2.
Shown in.

[0023]

[Table 2] A material B material Comparative material (AW = 0.80) (AW = 0.90) (AW = 0.90) Deoxidation rate (0.1% arrival time) 38.6 32.7 28.5hr Seepage (out of 100 samples) 0 0 1 Tape bleed (same) ) 0 0 2 [Note] AW is water activity

[0024]

As described above, the present invention has the following effects. 1) The productivity during food storage and packaging is improved. Conventionally, when storing, a detecting agent whose oxygen state can be checked simultaneously with a deoxidant is separately loaded at the same time, but according to the present invention, it is possible to save the trouble of separately preparing the detecting agent and putting it in a storage bag. 2) Simplification of bag making process When mechanically loading the oxygen absorber in order to save the trouble of putting the oxygen detector at the same time, the oxygen absorber is formed in a band shape and an adhesive tape layer is provided on one side to package the oxygen absorber. Although the method of crimping to the body is taken, in this case, since the equipment for loading is required, an economical burden is involved. On the other hand, the present invention is relatively inexpensive because it is only the manufacturing cost of the packaging material for the oxygen absorber packaging bag. 3) Work management and quality control in mounting work on the food storage bag become easy. The productivity of the work is as described above. Here, the oxygen detection agent can be integrated and becomes compact. Also, since it is always located at the same location, it becomes easy to confirm the presence of the oxygen scavenger. Since the manufacturing history is the same, quality control tracking is extremely easy. That is, since it is an integrated type, the history of the oxygen scavenger is the same as that of the detection tape, and there is no need to manage the respective histories that are produced in separate steps as in the conventional product. Since the manufacturing process of the oxygen absorber packaging with oxygen detection function is simple, the packaging bag is cheaper, whether it is a lightweight food or a food with a small number of storage bags. The pressure on the cost is negligible.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1A is a plan view of a three-way sealed deoxidizing material package of the present invention. (B) is the sectional view on the AA line of the (A) figure.

FIG. 2 is a plan view of a deoxidized material package with a three-sided seal showing another embodiment of the present invention.

3A is a sectional view of the package of the present invention, FIG. 3B is a sectional view of a seal portion after heat sealing (a sectional view taken along line BB in FIG. 1A), and FIG. Sectional view of the body.

FIG. 4A is a perspective view of a four-side sealed deoxidizing material package of the present invention. (B) is the CC sectional view taken on the line of (A) figure.
(C) is the DD sectional view taken on the line of (A) figure.

[Explanation of symbols]

1: Low melting point polymer film 2: Breathable sheet 3: Polymer film 4: Color reaction tape 5: Deoxidizing agent 6: Seal part 7: Polyethylene non-woven fabric 8: Low melting point PE film 9: Seal part 10: Transparent band

[Procedure amendment]

[Submission date] December 27, 2002 (2002.12.
27)

[Procedure Amendment 1]

[Document name to be amended] Statement

[Name of item to be corrected] Claim 2

[Correction method] Change

[Correction content]

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    F-term (reference) 3E067 AA11 AB97 BA12A BB14A                       BB25A CA03 CA24 EA04                       EE25 EE47 FA01 FC01 GB13                 3E086 AB01 AD01 BA04 BA15 BB05                       CA29                 4D020 AA02 CA04 CC14 DA02 DB09

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An oxygen scavenger bag to be packaged with a multi-layer packaging material, wherein the outer layer has at least one transparent portion whose inside can be visually observed.
A color reaction tape formed of a fibrous substance coated with or impregnated with a color reaction ink between the back surface of the film and the layer of the next packaging material. An oxygen scavenger package with an oxygen detection function, which is arranged so as to be in contact with at least a part of the portion and sandwiched and fixed. 2. The color reaction tape formed of the fibrous material has a thickness of 10 to 40% of the thickness of the oxygen absorber packaging material, and the compression rate of the tape and oxygen absorber packaging material is 10 kg / cm.
^2. The oxygen scavenger packaging with an oxygen detection function according to claim 1, wherein the content is set to 15.5 to 5% or more in the case of ^{2, and} the inner layer material is compressed and deformed by the pressure applied to the seal portion during bag making to make the bag. body. 3. A strip-shaped portion which intersects with a color reaction tape and is transparent so that a part of the tape can be seen from the outside.
The other part consists of the breathable film of the outermost layer covered with the same color as the color reaction tape is colored in the atmosphere having oxygen in the atmosphere, and the color reaction tape is colored in the deoxidized state. The oxygen scavenger package with an oxygen detection function according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the hue difference can be noticed remarkably from the transparent strip portion to facilitate the recognition of the color reaction. 4. The outermost film is composed of an oxygen-permeable silicone resin, and the heat-sealing polymer film located in the inner layer of the oxygen absorber packaging material is a microporous polyolefin-based film. The oxygen absorber-containing oxygen absorber package according to claim 3.