In a method for manufacturing and forming meat and sausage products, a semi-finished meat or sausage product is brought into a foil bag or between foils and sealed under vacuum to form a filled package. The filled package is then aligned between two movable, adjustable plates, and a uniform distribution of the package contents is achieved by applying a slight pressure on the package by moving the plates against one another. A vacuum is generated in plate cavities provided in the plates upon reaching a certain plate distance or a pressure within the filled package. In this way, the foil of the package undergoes stretching within the plate cavities and a cavity wall of the plate cavities, and the semi-finished meat or sausage product assumes a surface shape of the plates.

The invention relates to a method of forming containers useful in vacuum packaging applications which require that the packaged product be wrapped in an air-impervious enclosure. According to one aspect of the invention, the method comprises a step wherein a substrate of an air pervious, semipervious or impervious material is mold formed, and a subsequent step wherein an impervious film is applied on the molded substrate and adhered thereto to produce an impervious substrate. In another aspect, a product is placed on the impervious substrate and enclosed by an impervious film in a vacuum skin packaging process.

The present provides a thermoforming system for film on blister packing machines that forms pockets without any extreme reduction of thickness of the sheet at the top face portion of the pocket and enables sheets to be placed one upon another without warping. The thermoforming system for film for blister packaging machines pinches and heats a film, fed intermittently in synchronization with an open/close drive of a pair of dies on a thermoforming system, between the dies of the thermoforming system, and partially extends the heated film along an inner circumferential face of the pocket holes of the forming die to form pockets. The dies of the thermoforming system are constructed with a forming die provided with pocket holes, a heating die provided with a plugs for locally heating only the pocket forming portion of the film F disposed facing the pocket holes of the forming die, and injecting mechanisms that inject compressed air disposed on the forming die side and the heating die side, respectively.

Disclosed is a skin packaging film for skin packaging high profile and/or heavy articles. The film comprises linear ethylene/alpha-olefin copolymer. In one embodiment, the film is antistatic and may be employed for skin packaging of electro-static sensitive items such as circuit boards.

A thermoformed container having a granular product therein being made from two webs of films of flexible material is provided. According to one embodiment of the present invention, a web of flexible film material is thermoformed into a series of cup-shaped containers, each cup having a peripheral flange around its mouth. The cups are then partially filled with a granular product such that there is a headspace between the product's top surface and the cup's peripheral flange. The cups are then placed in a vacuum/sealing/shaping chamber wherein substantially all the air inside the cups is removed, followed by sealing an upper web of flexible film material to each cups's peripheral flange. Before the sealed containers are removed from the vacuum/sealing/shaping chamber, a shaping die located in the bottom of the chamber is thrust upwardly into each cup's bottom wall. The shaping die forces the granular product up into the headspace and pushes the cup's excess film material upwardly, thereby forming a concave impression or dome in the cup's bottom wall and subsequently reducing the amount of film wrinkling exhibited by the containers. The chamber is then returned to atmospheric pressure before the containers are removed. Atmospheric pressure holds the containers in this pre-selected solid shape, which is not only easy to handle in subsequent operations, but much more aesthetically pleasing than if the containers were not given a preselected shape. In addition, the reduced wrinkling of the lower cup's film material significantly increases the container's scuff and abrasion resistance.