Food Packages and Methods of Manufacture

Abstract

A package is disclosed for containing a plurality of individual food items within a tray having an outer surrounding wrapper. The tray is configured to have enhanced rigidity in a longitudinal direction to accommodate greater applications of pressure when forming envelope seals of the outer surrounding wrapper adjacent ends of the tray.

1 . A method of enclosing a tray in a film wrap, wherein the tray has a generally rectangular rear wall with a pair of longitudinal side edges and a pair of transverse side edges, a pair of longitudinal side panels attached to the longitudinal side edges of the rear wall, a pair of transverse side panels attached to the transverse side edges of the rear wall, and a minor flap attached to each of the longitudinal side panels along an edge thereof opposite the longitudinal side edges of the rear wall, the method comprising:
 sealing longitudinal edges of a film to form a sleeve;   placing the tray in the sleeve with the longitudinal edges of the film being generally parallel to the longitudinal side edges of the rear wall; and   forming an envelope seal at each open end of the sleeve and adjacent each of the transverse side panels to enclose the tray in the film wrap.   
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein forming the envelope seals further includes applying pressure and heat against overlapping portions of the sleeve with the transverse side panels therebeneath. 
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein forming the envelope seals further includes forming both envelope seals at substantially the same time. 
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 3 , wherein forming the envelope seals at substantially the same time includes applying compressive pressure against each of the transverse side panels and at least partially countering the compressive pressure via the longitudinal side panels and the minor flaps. 
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 4 , wherein the minor flaps extend substantially along the length of the longitudinal side panels. 
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing a blank for forming the tray, the blank being prescored along fold lines between the back panel and the longitudinal side panels, between the back panel and the transverse side panel, and between the longitudinal side panels and the minor flaps; and   folding the blank along the fold lines for forming the tray.   
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 6 , further comprising inserting individually-wrapped food packages into the tray after folding the blank and prior to placing the tray in the sleeve. 
   
   
       8 . A method of enclosing a tray in a film wrap, wherein the tray has a generally rectangular rear wall with a pair of longitudinal side edges and a pair of transverse side edges, a pair of longitudinal side panels attached to the longitudinal side edges of the rear wall, a pair of transverse side panels attached to the transverse side edges of the rear wall, and a minor flap attached to each of the longitudinal side panels along a fold line extending substantially parallel to an associated longitudinal side edge of the rear wall, the method comprising:
 folding the minor flaps inward from the longitudinal side panels such that the minor flaps extend over the rear wall;   applying a film wrap to the tray; and   forming an envelope seal of the film wrap adjacent each of the transverse side panels to enclose the tray in the film wrap.   
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein forming an envelope seal adjacent each of the transverse side panels comprises applying compressive pressure against the transverse side panels and transmitting a portion of the compressive force along the fold lines between the minor flaps and the longitudinal side panels. 
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 9 , wherein forming the envelope seals further includes forming both envelope seals at substantially the same time. 
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising inserting food packages into the tray after folding the minor flaps inward. 
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein applying a film wrap to the tray includes sealing longitudinal edges of the film wrap to form a sleeve; and
 placing the tray in the sleeve with the longitudinal edges of the film being generally parallel to the longitudinal edges of the rear wall.   
   
   
       13 . A method of forming a package, the method comprising:
 folding a pair of longitudinal side panels and a pair of transverse side panels of a carton blank into a generally perpendicular orientation relative to a rear wall of the carton blank;   securing the longitudinal side panels and the transverse side panels in the generally perpendicular orientation to form a tray;   folding minor flaps attached to the longitudinal side panels inwardly towards one another about fold lines extending between each of the minor flaps and an associated longitudinal side panel, wherein each fold line extends substantially parallel to an associated longitudinal side edge of the rear wall spaced from the fold line by the associated longitudinal side panel;   surrounding the tray with a film wrap to enclose the tray and to restrict movement of the minor flaps away from the rear wall; and   forming envelope seals in the film wrap adjacent each of the transverse side panels.   
   
   
       14 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein forming an envelope seal adjacent each of the transverse side panels comprises applying compressive pressure against the transverse side panels and transmitting a portion of the compressive force along the fold lines extending between each minor flap and the associated longitudinal side panel. 
   
   
       15 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein folding minor flaps attached to the longitudinal side panels includes folding multiple segments of each minor flap. 
   
   
       16 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein surrounding the tray with the film wrap includes:
 sealing longitudinal edges of the film wrap to form a sleeve; and   placing the tray in the sleeve with the longitudinal edges of the film being generally parallel to the longitudinal side panels of the tray.   
   
   
       17 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein forming envelope seals in the film wrap includes applying pressure and heat against overlapping portions of the film wrap with the transverse side panels therebeneath. 
   
   
       18 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein securing the longitudinal side panels and the transverse side panels in the generally perpendicular orientation includes adhesively attaching each of the transverse side panels to a pair of minor panels of the longitudinal side panels. 
   
   
       19 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein each minor flap extends substantially the whole length of the associated longitudinal side panel. 
   
   
       20 . The method of  claim 13 , wherein the minor flaps do not overlap with each other.