Flip Tray

Abstract

A flip tray is provided that includes a transparent, compartmentalized container body and a flexible sealing sheet sealed to partition walls and to the peripheral rim of the compartmentalized container body. Plant material with active respiratory activity such as fruits and vegetables are disposed in the compartments of the transparent container body. Each of the compartments exchanges respiratory gases through the micro-perforated sealing sheet individually in a controlled manner. A tray having a completely flat bottom is secured to the container body so as to underlie the flexible sealing sheet and includes peripheral vent conformations.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0001]Pre-packaged platters comprised of a container body and a cover tray are well known and offered for consumer purchase after having been pre-filled with fresh fruits and / or vegetables, and often a dipping sauce.[0002]Typical such platters are comprised of a container body for receiving the various fruits and / or vegetables, a transparent polymeric sheet which is sealed to the container body and a cover tray which is placed over the sealing sheet. The cover tray is typically provided to protect the transparent polymeric sheet from disruption or a puncture prior to purchase.[0003]Some prior art platters are offered with an opaque container body and transparent cover tray for viewing the contents of the container body. Other platters are the reverse, having a transparent container body and opaque cover tray so that the prepackaged fruits and vegetables can be more fully visualized. Some platters have both a clear container body and cover tray.[0004]An exa...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0008]The present invention provides a flip tray wherein the various fruits and / or vegetables have individual atmospheric control and / or wherein air circulation to the compartments of the container is ensured without requiring the provision of ribs in the cover tray. In this way, the fruits and vegetables may be maintained in more optimum atmospheric conditions to increase their shelf life beyond that available with prior art flip platters. Moreover, because ribs are not required to ensure air circulation, the cover tray can have a completely flat bottom so that the cover tray has an appearance similar to service platters and is therefore aesthetically pleasing to the consumer.

Problems solved by technology

Disadvantageously, providing a single atmosphere control member and a common atmosphere for the contained food stuffs, as in the above described products, means that all fruits / vegetables within the container body have their ambient atmosphere controlled by the same atmosphere control member.

Because of the plurality of the ribs provided to ensure air circulation to the atmosphere control member, however, disadvantageously, smaller vegetables such as snap peas, carrots, green beans and the like may fall between the ribs and may be difficult for the consumer to retrieve and consume.

Moreover, while the cover tray is apparently intended to aesthetically simulate a service platter, ribs are not typically included in a service platter and thus may be considered aesthetically unappealing to the consumer.

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