Pasteurizable wide-mouth container

Abstract

A wide-mouth blow-molded plastic container capable of accommodating, without undesirable distortion, super-baric pressures when filled with volatile food products and pasteurized, and sub-baric pressures after cooling to ambient temperatures. A method of packaging a food product in the container is also disclosed.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to blow-molded plastic containers, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a wide-mouth blow-molded plastic container which is particularly suited for containing volatile food products that require pasteurization at elevated temperatures after the container has-been filled and capped.[0002] Glass has been the material of choice for pasteurizable containers designed to package volatile food products that off-gas after filling and sealing. Such products include, but are not limited to, pickles, relish, sauerkraut, and the like. Glass has been desirable because of its strength and low cost; however, glass containers are heavy and breakable.[0003] There is a need for a plastic container which is particularly suited for packaging the afore-described products by being robust enough to withstand the rigors of heat pasteurization. For instance, such a container must be capable of withstanding internal pressures at high temperatures, follo...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008] More specifically, the present invention provides a wide-mouth blow-molded plastic container which is capable of accommodating, without undesirable distortion, super-baric pressures when filled with volatile food products and pasteurized, and sub-baric pressures after cooling to ambient temperatures. The plastic container comprises a cylindrical sidewall having a plurality of peripheral vertically-spaced grooves. A dome with a wide-mouth opening adapted to receive a sealed closure is located above the sidewall, and a footed pressure-resistant base is located below the sidewall. An upper label bumper extends around the upper end of the sidewall subjacent the dome, and a lower label bumper extends around the lower end of the sidewall super-adjacent the base. In the aforedescribed structure, the sidewall grooves cooperate with the dome and base to stiffen the sidewall against undesirable distortion due to the swing from super-baric to sub-baric pressures within the container. Preferably, the sidewall has a crystallinity in excess of 25 percent; the base is of petaloid configuration; and the wide-mouth opening has a diameter which is sufficiently large to afford access to the container and removal of contained food products by means of a conventional item of tableware.

Problems solved by technology

Glass has been desirable because of its strength and low cost; however, glass containers are heavy and breakable.

To date, there is no known commercially-available, wide-mouth, PET container that is capable of being filled with volatile food products, capped, and subsequently pasteurized.

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