The present application relates generally to the field of food product packaging. More specifically, the present application relates to a packaging system including a perforation system that forms a multitude of small openings or perforations in a plastic film for use in the packaging of a food product in a wrapping system.
Instead of being processed and packaged by a butcher at a retail location, carcasses are commonly cut at a meat packing location and shipped to the retail location as what is commonly known as case-ready (e.g., store-ready, shelf-ready, etc.) meat. The portions of meat are generally first individually wrapped in a film and then several wrapped cuts of meat are packaged in vacuum packages or modified atmosphere packages (MAP) that are configured to have an atmosphere (e.g., an atmosphere with a specific concentration of gasses such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide, carbon-monoxide, etc.) to delay spoilage of the meat such that it can be shipped and have a desired shelf life at the retail location. At the retail location, the outer packaging may be opened and the individually wrapped cuts of meat may then be placed on the shelf for purchase. The lack of oxygen in vacuum packages and some modified atmosphere packages can cause the meat to appear in its “true” color (e.g., dark reddish purple for beef and dark pink for pork). While this does not mean the meat is spoiled, consumers may be less likely to purchase the meat because it is not a more desirable color (e.g., bright red for beef and bright pink for pork), which is often associated with freshness. The film in which the individual portions of meat are wrapped may be perforated and oxygen permeable such that the meat can be exposed to oxygen once the outer packaging is opened to “bloom” or turn to a more desirable color when on the shelf.
The vacuum packages or modified atmosphere packages, sometimes known as “mother bags,” are typically constructed of an expensive film material so as to not allow air into the bag during storage and transportation. Present meat packers who use trays, must purchase the expensive container film with the modified atmosphere properties, from a limited number of suppliers who require a large amount of the film to be purchased at one time with a long lead time. As some packers use different width trays, they are forced to purchase, store, and inventory multiple sizes of expensive films to form the vacuum packages or modified atmosphere packages.
Features, aspects, and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying exemplary embodiments shown in the drawings, which are briefly described below.
It is to be understood that the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only, and are not restrictive of the invention.
The packaging system described herein provides a novel system for wrapping a food product in a perforated film. The film includes a perforated portion and an unperforated portion. The packaging further includes a removable seal that covers the perforations in the perforated portion of the film.
It should be noted that the term “exemplary” as used herein to describe various embodiments is intended to indicate that such embodiments are possible examples, representations, and/or illustrations of possible embodiments (and such term is not intended to connote that such embodiments are necessarily extraordinary or superlative examples).
References herein to the positions of elements (e.g., “top,” “bottom,” “above,” “below,” etc.) are merely used to describe the orientation of various elements in the FIGURES. It should be noted that the orientation of various elements may differ according to other exemplary embodiments, and that such variations are intended to be encompassed by the present disclosure.
Referring to
According to an exemplary embodiment, the food product 16 is a meat product (e.g., a portion of ground meat, whole muscle meat, etc.). In another embodiment, the food product packaging system 10 may be configured to package a food product formed completely or partially of vegetable material, soy, bread, or another food product that may benefit from being packaged in a perforated film.
The food container 10 further includes a removable seal 18 that is aligned with the perforations 15. The removable seal 18 is affixed to the film 14 over the perforations 15 in such a way that a gas cannot pass through the perforations 15. The seal 18 may be affixed to the film 14 by the packer to prevent the ingress of atmospheric gasses into the interior of the container 10 during shipping. The seal 18 may then be removed at a retail location to allow atmospheric gasses to enter the container 10. For example, the seal 18 may be removed to expose the food product 16 to oxygen to change the appearance of the food product 16.
Referring now to
Wrapped food containers 10 are provided to the packaging system 20. The food containers 10 may be wrapped with a wrapping system configured to close a food product 16 in a tray 12 with a film 14. For example, the wrapping system may fold or wrap the film 14 around the tray 12 and seal the film 14 together around the food product 16 (e.g., around a rim 13 of the tray 12. The film 14 may be pre-printed with indicia or information (e.g., labels, graphics, nutritional information, price tags, cooking instructions, etc.). The film 14 is provided in an unperforated form (e.g., on a roll or other storage and dispensing device) and fed to the wrapping system 12. The film 14 may extend continuously from the dispensing device (e.g., roll) to the wrapping system.
The perforations 15 are formed in the film 14 by the perforation device or system 22. The perforation system 22 may be provided in close proximity to the wrapping system or may be provided remote from the wrapping system (e.g., at a different station in a packaging facility). In some embodiments, the perforation system 22 may be integrated into the wrapping system. The food container 10 is provided to the perforation system 22 by a conveyer system 28. The perforation system 22 includes a multitude of perforation forming elements, shown as pins 30 mounted in a pin holder 32. The pin holder 32 is mounted to an actuator, shown as a pneumatic cylinder 34. The pin holder 32 is moveable via the pneumatic cylinder 34 between a first position (e.g., home position, retracted position, disengaged position, upper position, etc.) and a second position (e.g., penetration position, engaged position, lower position, etc.). With the food container 10 at the perforation system 22, the cylinder 34 is extended to move the pin holder 32 to the second position so that the pins 30 penetrate the film 14 for a set amount of time to form the perforations 15. After the pins 30 have penetrated the film 14, the pneumatic cylinder 34 retracts to return the pin holder 32 to the first position. After the perforations 15 have been formed in the film 14, the container 10 is moved along the conveyer system 28 from the perforation system 22 to the seal system 24. In other embodiments, the perforation system 22 may utilize lasers or any other suitable mechanism to form perforations 15 in the film 14.
The seal 18 is coupled to the film 14 over the perforations 15 by the seal system 24. The seal system 24 includes the seal 18 on a seal applicator, shown as a pad 40. According to an exemplary embodiment, the seal 18 is held on the pad 40 with vacuum. The pad 40 is mounted to an actuator, shown as a pneumatic cylinder 42. The pad 40 is moveable via the pneumatic cylinder 42 between a first position (e.g., home position, retracted position, disengaged position, upper position, etc.) and a second position (e.g., application position, engaged position, lower position, etc.). With the food container 10 at the seal system 24, the cylinder 42 is extended to move the pad 40 to the second position so that the seal 18 is coupled to the film 14 for a set amount of time such that the seal 18 covers the perforations 15. After the seal 18 is coupled to the film 14, the seal 18 is released from the pad 40 and the pneumatic cylinder 42 retracts to return the pad 40 to the first position. With the pad 40 in the first position, another seal 18 is fed out onto the pad 40 for the next cycle. The seals 18 may be provided, for example, from a roll 44. In other embodiments, the seal 18 may be applied by any suitable mechanism, such as by hand, wiped on automatically, or blown from the pad 40 to the film 14.
According to another exemplary embodiment, the perforation system 22 and the seal system 24 may utilize other actuators instead of the pneumatic cylinders 34 and 42, such as motor driven devices, hydraulic cylinders or any other linear or rotary actuator capable of moving the pins 30 or the seal 18 to the container 10.
Referring now to
The seal 18 has an outer periphery that is larger than the area of the film 14 that includes the perforations 15. The adhesive 46 does not contact the perforations 15 so that the perforations 15 are not obstructed by adhesive 46 left behind when the seal 18 is removed from the film 14, thereby allowing atmospheric gasses such as oxygen to freely pass through the perforations 15 in the film 14.
Referring to
Referring to
The food container 10 may be subject to further processing after being perforated and sealed with the packaging system 20. The food container 10 may continue along the conveyor system 28 to be weighed, labeled, inspected, placed into a shipping carton, etc. Because the perforations 15 are covered by the seal 18, the food container 10 does not need to be wrapped or placed in an outer packaging to maintain the vacuum or modified atmosphere in the interior of the food container 10.
At a retail location, the food container 10 is removed from the shipping carton. The seal 18 is removed from the film 14 before placing the container 10 in a cooler for purchase, allowing the food product 16 to be exposed to atmospheric gasses, such as oxygen, passing through the perforations 15.
Referring back to
The processor 52 can be implemented as a general purpose processor, an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), one or more field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), a group of processing components, or other suitable electronic processing components. In another exemplary embodiment, the control system 26 may include a controller lacking a processor or memory. For example, the control system may be a linear circuit.
The memory device 54 (e.g., memory, memory unit, storage device, etc.) is one or more devices (e.g., RAM, ROM, Flash memory, hard disk storage, etc.) for storing data and/or computer code for completing or facilitating the various processes, layers and modules described in the present application. The memory device 54 may be or include volatile memory or nonvolatile memory. The memory device 54 may include database components, object code components, script components, or any other type of information structure for supporting the various activities and information structures described in the present application. According to an exemplary embodiment, the memory device 54 is communicably connected to the processor via the processing circuit and includes computer code for executing (e.g., by processing circuit and/or processor) one or more processes described herein.
The input device 56 is one or more devices that allow a user to input commands and control variables for the packaging system 20 (e.g., timing changes as required for different size seals 18, containers 10 and conveyor speeds, etc.). The input device 56 may be, for example, a touch screen monitor, a keyboard or keypad, push buttons, dials, switches, or any combination of devices. The output device 58 is one or more devices that allow a user to monitor the properties of the packaging system 20 and may be integrated with the input device 56. The output device 58 may be, for example, a monitor, a touch screen monitor, a text display, a numeric display, or a combination of devices.
The controller 26 controls the timing of the various systems and devices of the packaging system 20. The position of the container 20 on the conveyor system 28 is sensed by a detector, shown in
In another embodiment, the packaging system 20 may not include an electronic controller 26. Instead, the perforations 15 may be formed in the film 14 and the seal 18 may be coupled to the film 14 manually. An operator may place one container 10 at time onto a plate or other fixture and manually actuate a perforation device to form the perforations 15 in the film 14. The operator may then manually apply the seal 18 to the film 14 to cover the perforations 15.
The present disclosure contemplates methods, systems and program products on any machine-readable media for accomplishing various operations. The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented using existing computer processors, or by a special purpose computer processor for an appropriate system, incorporated for this or another purpose, or by a hardwired system. Embodiments within the scope of the present disclosure include program products comprising machine-readable media for carrying or having machine-executable instructions or data structures stored thereon. Such machine-readable media can be any available media that can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer or other machine with a processor. By way of example, such machine-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of machine-executable instructions or data structures and which can be accessed by a general purpose or special purpose computer or other machine with a processor. When information is transferred or provided over a network or another communications connection (either hardwired, wireless, or a combination of hardwired or wireless) to a machine, the machine properly views the connection as a machine-readable medium. Thus, any such connection is properly termed a machine-readable medium. Combinations of the above are also included within the scope of machine-readable media. Machine-executable instructions include, for example, instructions and data which cause a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or special purpose processing machines to perform a certain function or group of functions.
It is important to note that the construction and arrangement of the food product packaging as shown in the various exemplary embodiments are illustrative only. Although only a few embodiments have been described in detail in this disclosure, those skilled in the art who review this disclosure will readily appreciate that many modifications are possible (e.g., variations in sizes, dimensions, structures, shapes and proportions of the various elements, values of parameters, mounting arrangements, use of materials, colors, orientations, etc.) without materially departing from the novel teachings and advantages of the subject matter described herein. For example, elements shown as integrally formed may be constructed of multiple parts or elements, the position of elements may be reversed or otherwise varied, and the nature or number of discrete elements or positions may be altered or varied. The order or sequence of any process or method steps may be varied or re-sequenced according to alternative embodiments.
The present application claims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/108,731, filed on Jan. 28, 2015. The foregoing provisional application is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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62108731 | Jan 2015 | US |