The present invention provides a vacuum sealed, container suitable for containing preserved pickled food. In a preferred approach, the container includes at least one foil wall formed from a flexible foil and defining a chamber; pickled food within the chamber; and brine, in which the food is immersed, and which fills the chamber when the chamber is sealed. Preferably, the ratio of brine to pickled food by mass is in the range 1:2.5 to :5. The claimed containers can reduce the mess associated with eating pickled foods from traditional containers, and can assist in improving the shelf life of such foods.

There is described a packaging machine for producing sealed packages of a pourable product from a web of packaging material, which may include conveying means for advancing the web of packaging material along a web advancement path at least to a tube forming station at which the web of packaging material is formed into a tube and for advancing the tube along a tube advancement path, an isolation housing having a main chamber and an auxiliary chamber arranged downstream of the main chamber along the tube advancement path, a tube forming and sealing device at least partially arranged within the main chamber and being configured to form and longitudinally seal the tube within the main chamber, a filling device for filling the tube with the pourable product and a pressure control device configured to control a first pressure within the main chamber and a second pressure within the auxiliary chamber such that the first pressure is higher than the second pressure and the first pressure and the second pressure are both higher than the ambient pressure.

An evacuation station has a first chamber, a second chamber, and a dividing wall separating the first and second chambers. The dividing wall has a gap fluidly coupling the first and second chambers. The second chamber is fluidly coupled to a vacuum source. A package is made from a film and is arranged in the evacuation station. An inner volume of the package is in fluid communication with an inner volume of the second chamber via the open end. A control unit controls a pressure differential between a first internal pressure in the first chamber and a second internal pressure in the second chamber to cause aspiration of gas from the inner volume of the package.

A product and method for reducing tensile strength loss associated with sterilization of the product by ionizing radiation sterilization methods is provided. The method includes providing a package that includes a layer having an oxygen transmission rate equal to or less than about 10 cubic centimeters of oxygen per 100 inches squared per 24 hours; providing a product in the package's interior; applying a vacuum to the exterior of the package in a controlled atmosphere until a vacuum pressure equal to or less than about 250 millibars is achieved; flushing the interior of the package with an inert gas until an inert gas flush pressure equal to or less than about 750 millibars is achieved; sealing the package; releasing the vacuum applied in the controlled atmosphere; and sterilizing the package/product with radiation. The resulting product has a reduction in its tensile strength of less than about 18.5% after sterilization.

There is described a packaging machine for producing sealed packages of a pourable product from a web of packaging material, which may include conveying means for advancing the web of packaging material along a web advancement path at least to a tube forming station at which the web of packaging material is formed into a tube and for advancing the tube along a tube advancement path, an isolation housing having a main chamber and an auxiliary chamber arranged downstream of the main chamber along the tube advancement path, a tube forming and sealing device at least partially arranged within the main chamber and being configured to form and longitudinally seal the tube within the main chamber, a filling device for filling the tube with the pourable product and a pressure control device configured to control a first pressure within the main chamber and a second pressure within the auxiliary chamber such that the first pressure is higher than the second pressure and the first pressure and the second pressure are both higher than the ambient pressure.

A developer filling apparatus includes a bag setting portion where a developer bag in which a developer containing toner and a carrier is sealed is set, an accommodation case setting portion where a developer accommodation case for accommodating the developer is set, and a transfer path constructed to initially fill the developer accommodation case set in the accommodation case setting portion with the developer taken out of the opened developer bag while the developer bag is set in the bag setting portion.

A packaging system includes a bag feeding device for forming a packaging bag series having a continuous bag portion partitioned by a side seal portion from a long film and a bag mouth opening/closing device having a conveying path formed between a conveying device for pulling and conveying the packaging bag series with first grips and a guide rail parallel to the conveying path. The movers traveling on the guide rail has second grips for gripping the side seal portion. By controlling and adjusting the distance between one mover and the mover immediately after that, an upper end opening of the bag portion is opened or closed according to various processes of the packaging process.

An apparatus for the vacuum packaging of food, which includes a base structure which defines a vacuum chamber which can be connected to a vacuum pump. Between the vacuum chamber and the vacuum pump, at least one air filtration device is provided which has elements for varying at least one thermo-fluid dynamics parameter of the flow of air extracted from the vacuum chamber by the vacuum pump, in order to enable the elimination, from the air extracted from the vacuum chamber, of water, biochemical liquids and biological materials.

The invention provides a vacuum packaging method and a vacuum packaging apparatus that can sufficiently degasify the inside of a packaging bag without any trouble and in which bubbles are less likely to remain inside the packaging bag after vacuum packaging, even if a liquid is included in a packaged object.

An apparatus for vacuumizing and sealing a package includes a plurality of platens and vacuum chambers, each chamber adapted to mate with a dedicated one of the platens; a conveying system for conveying the platens and chambers along a generally angular path having a single axis of rotation; an automated loading assembly having a linear component and configured to load a package onto each of the platens; an automated unloading assembly having a linear portion and configured to unload a vacuumized, sealed package from each loaded platen onto an outfeed conveyor; and a vacuumizing/sealing system configured to cause relative movement of each chamber/platen pair, along a portion of the angular path, to form therebetween an air-tight enclosure accommodating the package and effect vacuumization and sealing of the package.