Importance

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Abstract

A deliddable ovenable container, such as a molded pulp tray with a liner obtained from a thin film of polyester, useful for packaging food to be frozen for sale and storage and subsequently heated by the consumer in either a microwave or a conventional oven, with means to insure that a transparent and flexible lid of polyester film sealed thereto by heat and pressure subsequently can be peeled away from the polyester liner of the tray without any undesirable delamination of the liner from the molded pulp base of the tray, either at freezing temperatures before heating or at high temperatures after heating, to expose the food for consumption. Such means includes a coating of release material having adhesive properties, such as methyl cellulose, on the liner outside the area where the lid is to be sealed to prevent strong adherence between the lid and the liner at the extreme edges of the tray, the release material ideally having fiber adhesive properties as well and being applied to the cut edge which strengthens the mechanically trimmed fibrous material around the edge of the molded pulp base, plus increased density of the fibrous material only around the zone of the release material and the lid seal so that the fibrous material additionally resists being pulled apart in that area while still providing a thicker thus stronger tray elsewhere which resists bending forces.

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First Claim