Patent Application
20250153466
The invention generally pertains to the art of food packaging and, more particularly, enhancing laser date coding on food packaging made from recyclable film.
Employing flexible film for packaging a wide range of food is widely known in manufacturing various packaged food products. In particular, packaging systems employing films include, but not limited to, vertical form, fill and seal (VFFS) packaging systems, horizontal form, fill and seal (HFFS) packaging systems, horizontal flow wrap (HFW) packaging systems and gusset bag forming systems which are often used in packaging various food snacks, including cereal, potato chips, power bars, breakfast bars, dry mixes and the like. In general, these packaging systems can rely on wrapping and sealing food products in a flexible film taken from a roll or forming of a flexible package, such as a gusseted pouch, which is filled with a food product and then sealed. One or more packaged products are often further packaged in a box for shipment to a retail store in order to be sold to consumers.
Collectively, all of these known packaging systems could be generically referred to as film packaging systems. The films employed in at least the food packaging field are laminates, mainly consisting of polypropylene (specifically biaxially oriented polypropylene or BOPP), polyethylene (specifically biaxially oriented polyethylene or BOPE), polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or a combination thereof. Of these known films, polyethylene (PE) films are often favored based on their ability to be readily recycled.
In the packaging of food, date coding the packaging, which includes product use by, sell by, made on, expiration and the like dates, must often be employed to assure the quality of the food to be consumed. One known method of date coding food product packaging is laser date coding, such as employing CO2 laser coding. Unfortunately, laser date coding, including CO2 laser date coding, is simply not effective on PE film. More specifically, the laser coding is employed to etch the film to a specified depth utilizing a laser, with the etching intended to create readily readable dates on the packaging. However, specifically with PE films, the resulting dating is very difficult to visually discern, even in the best of lighting.
With the above in mind, there is seen to be a need for a flexible PE film laminate, particularly available in roll form for the food packaging industry, which is structured to enable laser coding to be effectively employed, while still having the overall package completely, readily recyclable.
In accordance with the invention, a food packaging having laser date coding is made from a flexible laminate packaging film specifically formed from only materials which can be readily recycled, specifically post consumer recycled (PCR). More specifically, the overall film of the packaging includes a main laminate body constituted by a polyethylene (PE) film layer and an ethylene vinyl alcohol (EVOH) layer, with the laser date coding being created in the EVOH layer. In particularly preferred embodiments of the invention, the EVOH layer is quite thin, i.e., no greater than 5% of the thickness of the food packaging. With this overall arrangement, laser date coding can be effectively employed to create a readily readable coding date in the EVOH layer in an overall packaging film which is readily recyclable. More specifically, although additional layers can be included in the overall film, such as a cold seal, tie layer and/or an ink layer, the film is at least essentially void of, and preferably entirely void of, polypropylene (PP) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET), thereby being significantly advantageous in creating food packages which are readily recyclable which requires, in accordance with the invention, the film to meet various specific criteria. The film can advantageously be provided in roll form for use in a wide range of film flow food packaging systems to establish various types of food packages with readily readable date coding.
Additional objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more readily apparent from the following detailed description, when taken in conjunction with the drawings wherein like reference numerals refer to corresponding parts in the several views.
With initial reference to
With continued reference to
To counter this problem, polyethylene film laminate 15 is specifically structured as will now be described with specific reference to
Important in connection with the invention, it is the ethylene vinyl alcohol layer 130 that is subjected to coding, specifically laser date coding and, even more preferably, CO2 laser date coding. Laser coding ethylene vinyl alcohol layer 130, rather than polyethylene film 100, has been found to significantly enhance the readability of coded date 55 as the crystallinity structure of ethylene vinyl alcohol layer 130 has been found to be highly damaged by the application of the layer, thereby resulting in a highly effective etching operation. With this overall arrangement, laser date coding can be effectively employed to create a readily readable product coded date 55 in the EVOH layer 130 in an overall packaging film 15 which is readily recyclable. Although in certain embodiments of the invention only these two films/layers are required so the EVOH layer 130 is an outermost layer, one or more other layers can be included in the overall film, such as an ink layer 140 to present product information to a consumer and a tie or adhesive layer 150 interconnecting EVOH layer 130 with ink layer 140, as shown in
Although described with reference to preferred embodiments of the invention, it should be understood that various changes and/or modification can be made without departing from the invention.
