Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Packaged or wrapped product – Packaged product is animal flesh
Reexamination Certificate
1997-09-23
2001-08-07
Sherrer, Curtis E. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Packaged or wrapped product
Packaged product is animal flesh
C426S115000, C426S127000, C383S119000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06270819
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to packages for the packaging of bone-in meat products. More particularly, the present invention relates to a bag having a protective patch adhered directly thereto, the protective patch preventing of bone puncture, or reducing the likelihood of bone puncture.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Patch bags are known for the packaging of bone-in meat products, such as whole bone-in pork a loins, etc. However, in the packaging of various meat products, even after placing the meat product in the bag, evacuating the atmosphere from the bag, sealing the open end of the bag, and shrinking the bag and patch by passing the packaged product through a shrink tunnel, the resulting packaged product exhibits excess film from the bag comers, commonly referred to as “dog ears.” It would be desirable to reduce or eliminate the presence of the excess bag and patch film in the packaged product.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to a patch bag having a bag which has an outwardly curved edge and an outwardly curved seal, and a patch having an outwardly curved edge. The patch is adhered to the bag in a region which is relatively close to the curved seal, with the curved edge of the patch preferably being relatively close to the curved seal, and substantially parallel to the curved seal, so that there is patch coverage in a region “within the curve of the seal,” i.e., inward of the seal, on the “concave side” of the outwardly curved seal. In this manner, a patch bag is provided which, relative to patch bags of the prior art, has less excess bag film and/or less excess patch film, due to bag and/or patch corners which are otherwise present with a traditional rectangular patch bag. That is, the curved patch edge assists in minimizing the uncovered area of the bag which would otherwise occur if a square or rectangular patch is utilized in combination with a curved bag edge.
As a first aspect, the present invention is directed to a patch bag, comprising: (A) a bag having a convex bag edge; (B) a convex seal inward of the convex bag edge, the convex seal having a first seal endpoint and a second seal endpoint; and (C) a patch adhered to the bag. The patch has a convex patch edge, and the patch covers at least a portion of a region of the bag bounded by the convex seal and a straight line connecting the a first seal endpoint and the second seal endpoint.
Although the convex seal can be inward of the convex patch edge, preferably the convex seal is outward of the convex patch edge.
Although the patch bag can be an end-seal bag or a side-seal bag, preferably the patch bag is an end-seal bag, with the convex seal forming a bottom of the bag. A side seal patch bag according to the present invention has a convex seal which forms a side of the bag. In addition, the patch bag of the present invention can be a pouch having two straight side seals and a convex bottom seal.
Preferably, the bag comprises a first biaxially-oriented, heat-shrinkable film comprising an outside abuse layer, a core O
2
-barrier layer, and an inside sealant layer, and the patch comprises a second biaxially-oriented, heat-shrinkable film. Preferably, the outside abuse layer of the bag comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymer having a density of from about 0.85 to 0.95, propylene/ethylene copolymer, polyamide, ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene/methyl acrylate copolymer, and ethylene/butyl acrylate copolymer. Preferably, the core O
2
-barrier layer of the bag comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of ethylene/vinyl alcohol copolymer, polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride, polyamide, polyester, and polyacrylonitrile. Preferably, the inside sealant layer comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of thermoplastic polyolefin, thermoplastic polyamide, thermoplastic polyester, and thermoplastic polyvinyl chloride. Preferably, the second biaxially-oriented, heat-shrinkable film comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymer having a density of from about 0.85 to 0.95, propylene/ethylene copolymer, polyamide, ethylene/vinyl acetate copolymer, ethylene/methyl acrylate copolymer, and ethylene/butyl acrylate copolymer.
Preferably, the bag comprises a heat-shrinkable film and the patch comprises a heat shrinkable film.
Optionally, the seal can be inward of the convex patch edge. Although such a seal can be through the patch but not through the bag, preferably such a seal is through the patch and the bag. Preferably, the bag having the seal through the patch but not through the bag is an end-seal bag.
Preferably, the seal is outward of the convex patch edge. Preferably, the patch is adhered to an outside surface of the bag. Although the patch can have a width which is greater than, equal to, or less than the width of the bag. The bag can have one patch, two patches, or more than two patches adhered thereto. In one preferred embodiment, the bag has a first patch adhered to a first lay-flat side of the bag, and a second patch adhered to a second lay-flat side of the bag. Although the patch(es) can be adhered to the inside surface of the bag, preferably the patches are adhered to the outside surface of the bag. Preferably, the two patches are substantially aligned with one another when the patch bag is in its lay-flat position.
As a second aspect, the present invention pertains to a process for making a patch bag, comprising: (A) cutting a patch from a first film, the patch having a convex edge; (B) adhering the patch to a bag film; and (C) sealing the bag film to itself or another film so that a patch bag having a convex seal having a first seal endpoint and a second seal endpoint is produced. The patch covers at least a portion of a region of the bag surface bounded by the convex seal and a straight line connecting the first seal endpoint and the second seal endpoint.
As a third aspect, the present invention pertains to a packaged product, which comprises a patch bag an a meat product in the patch bag. The patch bag is in accordance with the patch bag according to the present invention. The meat product comprises bone. Preferably, the meat product comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of poultry, pork, beet lamb, goat, horse, and fish. More preferably, the meat product comprises at least one member selected from the group consisting of ham, sparerib, picnic, back rib, short loin, short rib, whole turkey, and pork loin. Still more preferably, the meat product comprises bone-in ham, including both smoked and processed ham, fresh bone-in ham, turkey, chicken, and beef shank.
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Cryovac Inc.
Hurley Jr. Rupert B.
Sherrer Curtis E.
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