This application is a U.S. national stage of PCT/IB2017/051071 filed on 24 Feb. 2017, which claims priority to and the benefit of Italian Patent Application No. 102016000019732 filed on 25 Feb. 2016, the contents of which are all incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

FIELD OF APPLICATION

According to its more general aspect the present invention relates to the technical sector of the catering and packaging industry.

In particular, the invention relates to multipurpose containers for cooked, hot or cold, ready-to-eat food, in particular pizzas or similar products.

The present invention also relates to the use of such containers in the catering industry sector as containers for the packaging and transportation of take-away food products.

PRIOR ART

As is known, the packaging of take-away food products is performed using packaging articles such as sheets, containers, boxes and/or bags made of food-grade material.

In particular, it is an extremely widespread practice to use containers made of cardboard for alimentary use, such as disposable boxes, in order to hold ready-to-eat take-away food products.

For example, the typical rectangular cardboard boxes used for the take-away packaging and transportation of pizzas or similar products which have just been cooked are well-known to consumers.

Containers of this type are useful from a practical point of view, but have a number of drawbacks.

In fact, since the aforementioned containers or boxes are made of disposable cardboard, inevitably problems arise with regard to their disposal once they have been used by the final consumer.

Said disposal of containers and/or packaging of the disposable type generates high economic costs for the community, such as costs associated with collection, recovery and treatment of the waste.

In particular, problems of an environmental nature also exist with regard to the disposal of the container and/or the packaging, which does not always constitute waste which is of a recyclable nature or can be easily recycled.

For example, as regards the aforementioned cardboard boxes used for pizzas or other greasy foods, since they are often impregnated with oil and grease after use, it is not clear whether they are to be classified as paper and/or cardboard suitable for selective waste collection, or instead as general waste, and whether such disposal is in practice convenient and sustainable.

Moreover, it must be said that the aforementioned cardboard containers or boxes may also be made of a recycled paper material which is a source of cellulose.

However, the recycled paper material may contain substances which are potentially harmful for human health, such as diisopropyl naphthalenes and diisobutyl phthalates; the latter are often commonly used in the paper recycling process to remove inks and dyes.

These substances may easily migrate from cardboard containers comprising recycled paper material into the food placed inside them, especially if the food is hot and has a relatively high grease content as in the case, for example, of take-away pizzas which have just been cooked or similar products.

Therefore, the use of recycled paper in this type of container could represent a potential health hazard when said containers are used to hold food products, which are often very hot, in particular take-away pizzas which have just been cooked.

The technical problem forming the basis of the invention is therefore that of providing containers for alimentary use, intended for ready-to-eat food products, in particular take-away pizzas which have just been cooked, such that they may be reused without posing any risks for the health of the consumer, thereby overcoming the drawbacks mentioned above with reference to the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This technical problem is solved by a multipurpose container for ready-to-eat food, such as hot cooked products, as described in any one of the accompanying claims. This container has a containing base and a lid for closing said base, both made of a metallic food-grade material, said base and/or said lid having at least one through-hole for allowing vapours to escape, the container being characterized in that said base (2) and said lid (12) are made of a thin sheet of metallic material having a thickness of between 0.1 mm and 0.5 mm, preferably between 0.2 mm and 0.4 mm.

The term “metallic food-grade material” is understood as meaning any metal or metal alloy able to come into contact with foodstuffs or food products. In this connection, the metallic material may be used both as such in order to form the container according to the invention, if it has characteristics such as to be able to come into direct contact with the food, and in a form previously treated so that it is made suitable for alimentary use.

The treatment may envisage, for example, covering the inner surface of the base and the lid with a thin coat of paint suitable for contact with food products and heat-resistant, for example a ceramic paint.

This type of paint is particularly recommended in the case where it is required to increase the heat-insulation properties of the container according to the invention, which is made of metallic material, such that the ready-to-eat, in some cases hot, food product contained inside it may be kept better during transportation.

Preferably, the metallic material used to make the container according to the invention is chosen from the group consisting of aluminum or an alloy thereof and iron or an alloy thereof uniformly covered with a thin layer of protective metal, for example in the form of a thin tin-lined steel sheet, commonly know as tin plate. Aluminum is particularly preferred as metallic material.

It has been surprisingly found that, by making the container as described above (base and lid) using a thin sheet of metallic material with the thicknesses indicated, a container which has suitable structural solidity and stability characteristics both for use and for transportation is obtained, said characteristics being superior to those of a cardboard container, thereby overcoming the drawbacks mentioned above with reference to the cardboard containers of the prior art.

In fact, unlike cardboard containers which become impregnated with substances (oils, greases, etc.) released by the food contained inside them and which therefore are not reusable nor recyclable, the container according to the invention may be both reused and recycled if used once only, with recovery of metallic material from it, for example aluminum.

In other words, despite the small thickness of the sheet metal, the container according to the invention is structurally suitable for uses in particular involving the storage and transportation of food products, and may also be reused, being able in fact to be washed after use so that it is suitable for further use, or recycled if used once only, thus being able to be integrated without problems, owing to its small thickness, in systems for selective waste collection of metal materials and also in metal material recovery and recycling systems. As a result, therefore, the container according to the invention has a very limited environmental impact.

At the same time, owing to the small thicknesses of the metal sheet used, the production costs may be limited considerably, with the result that the container according to the invention is cost-effective from a manufacturing point of view.

The characteristic features and advantages of the present invention will emerge more clearly from the description hereinbelow of a number of preferred embodiments, said description being provided by way of a non-limiting example with reference to the attached drawings.

