Note : Les descriptions sont présentées dans la langue officielle dans laquelle elles ont été soumises.
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Group of pots for food products
The subject of the present invention is a packaging for food products.
More precisely, the present invention relates to a group of pots for
food products forming a pack, the pots being divisible from each other.
Various groups of pots packaged in divisible packs are known from
the prior art. In practice, when a pot is detached from the group and put on a
plane horizontal surface for consumption the upper rims of the pot surrounding
the upper opening of the pot are oriented in an approximately horizontal
manner, The upper rims are therefore not optimally oriented towards the user
when the pot is put on a horizontal consumption surface. The presentation of
the food product before and during consumption, along with the ergonomics
during consumption are disadvantaged. In practice, the use must often tilt the
pot during consumption, in particular in order to see and consume the food
when reaching the end of the pot.
Starting with this observation, the present invention aims to improve
the presentation of the food product in the pot before and during consumption
while allowing the use of existing machines for filling, sealing and packaging
for
groups of pots forming a divisible pack.
To this end, the invention proposes a group of at least two pots for
food products forming a pack, said pots being divisible from each other, in
which:
- each of the pots has an upper rim surrounding an opening; and
- when the pots are grouped in the pack, the pack being placed on a
reference plane, the upper rims of the pots of the pack are located in the
same
plane parallel to said reference plane; and
- when one of the pots is detached from the pack for consumption,
the pot being placed on a reference plane, the upper rim of the pot is located
in
a plane inclined relative to said reference plane.
Advantageously, a group according to the invention makes it possible
to improve the presentation of the food product in the pot before and during
consumption as the pot is tilted. In this way, the upper rim of the pot is
oriented
towards the consumer. The ergonomics during consumption are also improved
to the extent that the consumer no longer has to tilt the pot, in particular
when
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reaching the end of the pot, the pot according to the invention being oriented
towards the consumer during the act of consumption.
In addition, a group according to the invention is suitable for the use
of existing filling, sealing and packaging machines for the groups of pots
forming a divisible pack. Specifically, the group of pots forming a pack is
designed to present an upper surface parallel to the surface on which it is
placed, which allows the use of existing filling and sealing means, designed
to
operate with the upper rims of pots arranged in the same horizontal plane. For
the same reasons, the existing means for packing packs of pots are
advantageously able to be used with the pack of pots according to the present
invention.
According to advantageous features of the invention, optionally
combined:
- the base of each pot has over all or part of its outer surface a plane
through which the pot bears on the reference plane and which extends obliquely
relative to the plane of the upper rim of the pot;
- each of the pots of the group has a base approximately opposite
the upper rim, said base having on its outer surface a flattening in a plane
inclined relative to the plane of the upper rim of the pot;
- the flattening is the outer surface of the base of the pot;
- the group has at least one divisible tab between the upper rims of
two pots defining an axis joining the, at least two, pots, and the flattening
of
each of the pots is D-shaped with the straight rim oriented so as to form an
angle relative to the axis of the divisible tab of the pot in question;
- each pot in the group of pots is filled so that the surface of the food
product packaged is approximately parallel to the plane of the upper rim of
the
corresponding pot;
- the food product packaged in the pots has a viscosity such that the
surface of the product preserves a positioning parallel to the upper rim of
the
pot for at least 30 seconds, preferably at least 60 seconds, and in a
particularly
preferred manner for at least one hour after the pot has been detached from
the
pack and placed in the inclined position on a horizontal plane for
consumption;
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the viscosity is chosen so as to be between 500 cP and 10 000 cP
on dosing, and between 10 000 cP and 50 000 cP, preferably between
15 000 cP and 20 000 cP at consumption;
- the food product packaged in the pots is a fermented or
unfermented, stirred or set yoghurt, fruit mousse or vegetable puree, fromage
frais, cream, a product based on milk of an animal origin or soya milk, a
cereal-
based preparation, ice cream or a composite food product combining two or
more of the aforementioned products and optionally including a gel-type
preparation or an oven-baked preparation, such as a biscuit, pieces of fruit
or
one or more fruit or chocolate based crunchy layers;
- the base has an inclined plane of polygonal, circular or elliptical
outline over the whole of its outer surface;
- the pots each have a ledge designed for the application of a
protective film for sealing the pot on the Inside wall of the pot between its
upper
rim and its base, the plane of said ledge being parallel to the oblique plane
of
the base of the pot;
- the pots are made of a transparent material;
- the pots are sealed using a lid made of a transparent material,
These provisions advantageously make it possible to improve the
presentation of the food product in the pot before opening and. during
consumption.
According to another aspect, the invention proposes a method for
filling a group of pots such as described above in which, during filling, the
pots
of the group forming a pack are arranged in such a way that their upper rims
are
positioned in the same plane parallel to the horizontal, so that after filling
the
upper surface of the product packaged is approximately parallel to the plane
of
the upper rims of the pots of the group forming the pack. According to an
advantageous feature, the pots of the group are closed using a transparent
lid.
The exposition of the invention will now be continued through the
detailed description of exemplary embodiments, provided below by. way of
nonlimiting example with reference to the appended drawings. In the latter:
Figure 1 is a side view of a pot according to the invention;
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Figure 2 is a side view of four pots forming a pack according to
the invention;
Figure 3 is a schematic perspective view of the group of four pots
from Figure 2;
- Figure 4 is a top view of the group of four pots from Figure 3;
Figure 5 is a top view of a group of two pots according to the
invention;
Figure 6 is a side view of another embodiment of a pot according
to the invention; and
- Figure 7 is a side view of yet another embodiment of a pot
according to the invention.
Figure 1 is a side view of a first embodiment of a pot 2 according to
the invention. The pot has an upper rim 3 surrounding an opening 4 intended
for
the filling then the consumption of the food product contained in the pot. The
upper rims of the pot support a lid 5 for closing the pot provided with a
primer
tab 6, known per se, for facilitating the removal of the lid for consumption.
As can be seen in Figure 1, when the pot is placed on a reference
plane 10 the upper rim 3 of the pot 2 is located in a plane 11 inclined
relative to
the reference plane 10. In this way, the upper rim of the pot surrounding its
opening 4 is oriented towards the consumer. The pot 2 has a base 7
approximately opposite the upper rim 3. On its outer surface the base 7 has a
flattening 8 in a plane inclined relative to the plane 11 of the upper rim of
the
pot, in the present embodiment, the pot has an overall shape of part of a
sphere. According to an embodiment not shown, the pot has a cylindrical shape
in which the outer surface of the base of the pot forms a flattening in a
plane
inclined relative to the plane of the upper rim of the pot.
Figures 2 and 3 represent a group I of pots 2 for food products
according to the invention. Each of the pots has an upper rim 3 and a
structure
approximately identical to that of the pot of Figure 1, with the exception
that
each of the pots is provided with a ledge 9 designed for the application of a
lid
5. The ledge 9 is provided on the inside wall of the pot between its upper rim
3
and its base 7, the plane of said ledge being parallel to the plane of the
upper
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rim 3 of the pot.
The group of pots I as shown in Figures 2 and 3 has divisible tabs
13 between the upper rims of the pots.
In the present embodiment, a group of four pots such as shown in
5 Figure 1 has two of the four tabs which are not immediate neighbours with a
greater width than the two other tabs so as to locate there, in a manner known
per se, the primers 6 for opening the lid 5 as represented in Figure 2.
However, in an alternative embodiment, the tabs 13 are all identical.
Advantageously, as can be seen in Figures 2 and 3, when the pots
are grouped in packs, since the packs are placed in a reference plane 10, the
upper rims of the pack are located in the same plane 12 parallel to said
reference plane 10. Thus, a group of this type is suitable for the use of
existing
filling, sealing and packaging machines for groups of pots forming a divisible
pack, which are designed to operate with the upper rims of the pots positioned
in the same horizontal plane 12.
During filling of the pots, the upper surface 14 of the food product 15
is parallel to the plane of the upper rim 3 or to the plane of the opening of
the
corresponding pot 2. The food product packaged in the pots has a viscosity
such that the surface 14 of the product 15 preserves its position parallel to
the
upper rim 3 of the pot for at least 30 seconds, preferably at least 60
seconds,
and in a particularly preferred manner at least one hour after the pot has
been
detached from the open pack by the consumer and placed in the inclined
position on a plane 10 for consumption, as can be seen in greater detail in
Figure 1, To this end, the viscosity is chosen so as to be between 500 cP (1
cP
= Ix10'3 Pa,s) for a liquid (milk or liquid yoghurt, for example) and 1000 cP
for a
stirred yoghurt, on dosing, and between 10 000 and 50 000 OR preferably
between 15 000 and 20 000 cP at consumption (oblique position), i.e. in the
pots on the manufacturelfilling lines and "forming" in the pots, i.e, taking
on their
texture and their viscosity in the pots.
As can be seen in greater detail in Figure 4, the flattenings 8 of the
group of pots shown in Figures 2 and 3 have a round shape.
According to another embodiment, which can be seen in Figure 5, a
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group of two pots according to the invention has a divisible tab 13 between
the
upper rims 3 of the two pots, thus defining an axis A-A joining the two pots.
The
straight edge 81 of the D-shaped flattenings 8 is oriented perpendicular to
the
axis A-A so that, when the pots are grouped in the pack of two pots, the pack
being placed on a reference plane, the upper rims 3 of the pots remain
parallel
to the reference plane on which the pack is placed, When the pots are detached
and placed on the reference plane on the D-shaped flattening 8, the upper rim
of each of the pots is located in a plane inclined relative to the reference
plane,
This embodiment of a D-shaped flattening 8 is suited in a particularly
advantageous manner to a group of two or more pots, This is because these
flattenings make it possible to obtain stability of the pack even when only
two
pots remain in the pack. In other words, when the pots of the pack are not all
consumed at the same time, but one by one, the packet remains stable in
relation to a reference plane, the upper rims of the pots of the pack being
located in the same plane parallel to the reference plane, and this being the
case even when only two pots remain in the pack. Thus, the food product
advantageously preserves its position parallel to the upper rim of the pot
until
the two last pots of the group are detached. Then, according to the viscosity
of
the food product, the position parallel to the upper rim of the product is
retained
for a predetermined duration.
For reasons of stability in relation to the reference plane, according to
the invention a group of at least three pots will be preferred when the entire
base is inclined and, for example, circular or elliptical in shape and a group
of at
least two pots will be preferred when the entire base is inclined and
polygonal in
shape, as the embodiment of Figure 6 shows with a pot 2 of hexagonal cross
section and its inclined base 7 of hexagonal outline.
According to an embodiment not shown, the pot has a polygonal
cross section and its inclined base has a corresponding polygonal outline,
The pot may be filled with any food product intended to be consumed
in pots or groups of pots. These are, in particular, fermented or unfermented,
stirred or set yoghurts, fruit mousse or vegetable puree, fromage frais,
creams,
products based on milk of an animal origin or soya milk, cereal-based
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preparations, ice cream or composite food products combining two or more of
the aforementioned products. Optionally, such composite products may include,
for example, a gel-type preparation or an oven-baked preparation, such as a
biscuit, pieces of fruit or alternatively one or more fruit or chocolate based
crunchy layers.
In the cross section of the pots the portion may have any shape.
It may also be a product that can be turned out, for instance a dairy
base in the upper part of the pot and a coulis in the lower part of the pot,
so as
to be above the dairy base after turning out.
According to another embodiment shown in Figure 7, a pot according
to the invention has a ledge 9 intended for the application of a lid 5 for
sealing
the pot opening. The ledge 9 is provided on the inside wall of the pot between
its upper rim 3 and its base 7, the plane 91 of the ledge 9 being parallel to
the
plane of the flattening 8 of the base 7 of the pot. The lid 5 has a primer tab
6,
known per se.
The material of the pots is polystyrene (PS) or polypropylene (PP)
injected or, preferably, thermoformed. The pot may be transparent, translucent
or opaque, coloured or colourless.
More generally, the sealing of the pot may be carried out by means
of any type of lid, made of multilayered plastic or aluminium, transparent or
non-
transparent, and welded, preferably, to the upper rim of the pot by ultrasound
or
heat sealing.
Advantageously, the pots are made of a transparent material, which
makes it possible to improve the presentation of the food product before and
during consumption.
Advantageously, the pots are sealed using a transparent lid, which
makes it possible to improve the presentation of the food product in the pot
before opening,
For reasons of stability of the content of the pot, the roughness of the
inside surfaces of the pot is chosen so as to contribute to maintaining the
inclination of the content relative to the horizontal after tilting the pot.
The
roughness values are chosen depending on the characteristics of the food
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product contained in the pot, in particular depending on its viscosity. The
choice of roughness values is within the compass of the person skilled in the
art.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a method for
filling a group of at least two pots Is used for food products such as
described
above in which, during filling, the pots of the group forming a pack are
arranged
so that their upper rims lie in the same plane parallel to the horizontal. In
this
way, after filling, the upper surface of the product packaged is approximately
parallel to the plane of the upper rims of the pots of the group forming a
pack.
This makes it possible to use existing filling, sealing and packaging
machines.
After filling, the pots of the group are advantageously closed using a
transparent lid, which makes it possible to improve the presentation of the
food
product before opening,
Many other variants are possible depending on circumstances, and it
should be recalled in this respect that the invention is not lira ed to the
examples as represented and described.
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