GB2382337A

GB2382337A - Sequentially marked sheets for insertion between food slices

Info

Publication number: GB2382337A
Application number: GB0226483A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Soler Xavier Espuna
Original assignee: Esteban Espuua S A
Current assignee: Esteban Espuua S A
Priority date: 2001-11-23
Filing date: 2002-11-13
Publication date: 2003-05-28
Anticipated expiration: 2022-11-13
Also published as: ES2212700B1; GB2382337B; ITMI20022454A1; FR2832694B1; ES2212700A1; FR2832694A1; GB0226483D0

Abstract

In a strip or stack of sheets for food packaging, sheets forming the strip or stack are individually marked with a pre-established sequence of marks, such as alphanumeric- or bar- codes. The marks my be laser-etched or printed on the sheet, or the sheet may comprise two layers sandwiched together, said marks being printed on the inner surface of one of the layers. The sheets are placed between slices of food product to provide a food package. A sensor may be used to read the marks during the packaging operation, and assign the mark to a corresponding code for the food being packaged.

Description

SHEET STRIP SEQUENTIALLY MARKED FOR A PACKAGE OF SLICED FOOD PRODUCT AND CORRESPONDING PROCESS AND USES The invention relates to a sheet strip, preferably of plastics material, of the type for being cut into a plurality of separating sheets, each of the separating sheets being for insertion between two slices of a sliced food product. The invention also relates to a process for the manufacture of a package of a sliced food product comprising a packaging step as well as to a sliced food product package, of the type comprising a plurality of slices of the food product, each of which is separated from the adjacent slices by a separating sheet. Finally, the invention also relates to uses of a sheet strip according to the invention.

Packages of sliced food products of the type comprising a plurality of slices of the food product, each of which is separated from the adjacent slices by a separating sheet, are known. These separating sheets are usually obtained from a sheet strip, usually a reel, from which fragments are cut during the packaging step. The material of these separating strips is usually a plastics material suitable for alimentary applications. Nevertheless, other materials are possible and, in fact, as far as the invention is concerned, the type of constituent material of the separating sheets is irrelevant. These separating sheets are frequently known as "interleaves", During the packaging step, slices of the food product are cut and a separating sheet is inserted between each pair of food product slices. The food product may be, for example, ham, sausage, cheese, etc. These food products are usually processed in units or pieces of a comparatively large size relative to the packages of sliced food product in such a way that with one unit of food product more than one package of sliced food product is filled. Nevertheless, normally when the food product unit that is being sliced is terminated, the package of sliced food product that was being prepared is completed with slices of the following food product unit. Therefore, there are packages of sliced food product wherein there are slices from two different food product units. This hinders the traceability of the end product reaching the consumer.

In other words, when it is necessary to ascertain the source of a particular sliced food product package that, for example, is faulty, it is difficult to determine to which food product unit it corresponds. This problem is, in fact, usually solved by generating lots comprising a plurality of food product units, for example daily lots, which correspond

to lots of sliced food product packages. In this way, traceability by manufacturing lots may be effected, but it is not possible to determine more exactly the food product unit that has originated the faulty slice.

It is an object of the invention to overcome these drawbacks. This object is achieved by a sheet strip of the type first mentioned hereinabove comprising a plurality of marks with a pre-established sequence distributed uniformly in the longitudinal direction of said strip.

These marks must be of an appropriate size for at least one of them to appear on each separating strip. In this way, each mark (or group of marks if there is more than one mark per separating sheet) may be associated with the slice of food product placed on the separating sheet and, in this way, it becomes possible to generate a traceability allowing each slice to be associated with a specific food product unit.

In fact, if during the manufacturing process of the sliced food product package a reference code number of the food unit product being sliced is known at all times and, simultaneously, a sensor captures the marks of the separating sheets which are included within a package, a biunivocal correspondence may be established between each slice of food product in a particular package and the unit from which they proceed. The situation where slices from different food product units co-exist within one same package may be detected without any problem, since to each slice there corresponds the mark (or marks) of the separating sheet accompanying it, and each mark is associated with a concrete food product unit.

A further object of the invention is a process for the manufacture of a sliced food product package comprising a packaging step wherein the packaging step includes a step of inserting a separating sheet obtained from a sheet strip according to the invention.

Yet a further object of the invention is a sliced food product package of the type comprising a plurality of food product slices, each of which is separated from the adjacent slices by a separating sheet, wherein the separating sheet comprises at least one mark with a pre-established sequence. The separating sheet is usually obtained from a sheet strip as described above. Nevertheless, the invention may also be practiced if the separating sheets are not cut from a sheet strip, but have been made individually and are supplied as a set of sequentially marked separating strips. In this case, during the packaging operation, instead of cuffing a separating sheet from the sheet strip for insertion between two food product slices, what is to be done is take a

separating sheet from a stack of separating sheets for insertion between both slices in question.

Nevertheless, in all other respects, the invention works in the same way and the advantages obtained are the same, whereby it is not absolutely necessary that the separating strips come from a sheet strip.

Finally, an object of the invention is the use of a sheet strip according to the invention for the preparation of sliced food products and/or for the traceability control of a sliced food product package.

During the manufacturing process of a sliced food product package, slices are cut from a food product unit and, simultaneously, separating sheets are inserted between each pair of product slices. The separating sheets are usually obtained from a sheet strip, generally supplied on a reel, which is cut at the same time as each slice, so that the slice is laid in the freshly cut separating sheet.

Preferably, there is a step of reading the mark (or marks) on each separating sheet and a step of assigning the mark (or marks) to a code corresponding to the food product unit that is being sliced. This step may be performed simultaneously with the step of cuffing the slice and the separating sheet. To this end, a sensor arranged adjacent the slicing blade for the separating sheet may detect the mark (or marks) that each separating sheet has. Data processing equipment, which knows at all times an identification code for the food product unit that is being sliced, assigns the read mark to the code for the food product unit that is being sliced. In this way, the biunivocal bond is established between the slice and the food product unit from which it was obtained.

The marks may be any provided that this biunivocal bond may subsequently established. In practice, these marks are preferably series of numeric or alphanumeric codes, of great length (to avoid frequent repetitions thereof). It is of particular interest that these marks be bar codes, since the bar codes are easily read by data processing devices. The sequence is preferably a simple sequential numbering.

It is desirable that the marks are sufficiently small to guarantee that at least one of these marks appears on each separating sheet. Should separating sheets subsequently be used of such a size that each of them carries two or more marks, this represents no problem since the data processing system can either assign both (or more) marks to one food product unit, or discard one of them and assign only one of the marks present on the separating sheet to the food product unit in question.

The marks may be made in any appropriate way. In particular, they may be engraved on the surface of the separating sheet, for example, by laser. Another possible way of making the marks would be printing the marks on the surface of the separating sheet. In this sense, it could be advantageous for the printed surface not to be in direct contact with the slices. This may be achieved, for example, by manufacturing the separating sheet from the union of two (or more) layers of plastics material joined together in such a way that the printed surface is one of the surfaces of one layer which faces a surface of the other layer, i. e. , that the printed surface be one of the mutually contacting surfaces.

Claims

1. A sheet strip, preferably of plastics material, of the type for being cut into a plurality of separating sheets, each of said separating sheets being for insertion between two slices of a sliced food product, comprising a plurality of marks with a pre-established sequence distributed uniformly in the longitudinal direction of said strip.

2. The strip of claim 1, comprising at least two layers of plastics material joined together, where said marks are placed on an inner surface of one of said layers, which is not in direct contact with the sliced food product.

3. The strip of claim 1 or claim 2, wherein said marks are arranged along said strip in such a way that each of said separating sheets comprises at least one of said marks.

4. The strip of at least one of claims 1 to 3, wherein said marks are bar codes.

5. The strip of at least one of claims 1 to 4, wherein said marks are a sequential numbering.

6. A process for manufacturing a sliced food product package comprising a packaging step, wherein said packaging step includes a step of inserting a separating sheet obtained from a band according to at least one of claims 1 to 5 between each pair of slices of said food product.

7. The process of claim 6, comprising a step of reading at least one mark present on each of said sheets and a step of assigning said mark to a code corresponding to said food product.

8. The use of a strip according to at least one of claims 1 to 5 for the preparation of a sliced food product package.

9. The use of a strip according to at least one of claims 1 to 5 for controlling the traceability of a sliced food product package.

10. A sliced food product package of the type comprising a plurality of slices of the food product, each of which is separated from the adjacent slices by a separating sheet, wherein said separating sheet comprises at least one mark having a preestablished sequence.