PACKAGED FROZEN CONFECTION

Abstract

Disclosed is a packaged frozen confection (1) comprising a flexible pouch (2), wherein the pouch (2) comprises a wall (4) delimiting a cavity containing the frozen confection and extending in a longitudinal direction from a base end (6) to a top end (5) of the pouch. The top end (5) comprises a product outlet (8) through which the frozen confection can be extruded from the cavity. The base end (6) comprises a gusset (7) extending in a transverse direction, the top end (5) comprises a top edge (3) extending in the transverse direction, and the product outlet (8) is disposed at or proximal to a corner of the top edge (3). The wall (4) is deformable at least at the base end (6) of the pouch (2) to urge the frozen confection in the cavity towards the outlet (8) and extrude at least a portion of frozen confection therefrom.

Claims

1. A packaged frozen confection comprising a flexible pouch, wherein the pouch comprises a wall delimiting a cavity containing the frozen confection and extending in a longitudinal direction from a base end to a top end of the pouch, wherein the top end comprises a product outlet through which the frozen confection can be extruded from the cavity, and wherein: the base end comprises a gusset extending in a transverse direction; the top end comprises a top edge extending in the transverse direction; and; the product outlet being disposed at or proximal to a corner of the top edge; wherein the wall is deformable at least at the base end of the pouch to urge the frozen confection in the cavity towards the outlet and extrude at least a portion of frozen confection therefrom.

2. The packaged frozen confection as claimed in claim 1 wherein the pouch comprises side edges, each at opposite extremes of the gusset and extending in the longitudinal direction.

3. The packaged frozen confection as claimed in claim 2 wherein at least one of the side edges comprises an indented portion.

4. The packaged frozen confection as claimed in claim 1 wherein the cavity has a volume of from 250 to 500 ml.

5. The packaged frozen confection as claimed in claim 1 wherein the wall is formed from a plastic film material, preferably a multi-layer laminated plastic film material.

6. The packaged frozen confection as claimed in claim 5 wherein the top edge is formed by a seal between opposing faces of the plastic film material.

7. The packaged frozen confection as claimed in claim 1, comprising a removable sleeve at least partly surrounding the wall of the pouch and being sufficiently flexible to allow transmission of manual force through the sleeve to deform the wall at least at the base end of the pouch and thereby urge the frozen confection in the cavity towards the outlet and be extruded therefrom.

8. The packaged frozen confection as claimed in claim 7 wherein the sleeve is a thermally-insulating sleeve.

9. The packaged frozen confection as claimed in claim 1 wherein the frozen confection comprises freezing point depressants in an amount of from 25 to 35% by weight of the frozen confection, wherein the number average molecular weight <M>.sub.n of the freezing point depressants is less than 250 g mol.sup.−1,

10. The packaged frozen confection as claimed in claim 9 wherein the number average molecular weight <M>.sub.n of the freezing point depressants is no less than 205 g mol.sup.−1.

11. The packaged frozen confection as claimed in claim 10 wherein the freezing point depressants comprise erythritol.

12. A method for dispensing a frozen confection from a package, the method comprising the steps of: (a) providing a packaged frozen confection as claimed in any one of the preceding claims; and (b) applying manual force to the packed frozen confection to deform the wall at least at the base end of the pouch and thereby urge the frozen confection in the cavity towards the outlet and extrude at least a portion of frozen confection therefrom.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0065] The present invention will now be described with reference to the figures, wherein:

[0066] FIG. 1a shows a front view of an embodiment of a packaged frozen confection of the invention.

[0067] FIG. 1b shows a side view of the packaged frozen confection of FIG. 1a.

[0068] FIG. 1c shows a bottom view of the packaged frozen confection of FIG. 1a.

[0069] FIG. 2 shows the packaged frozen confection of FIG. 1 being used to dispense a portion of frozen confection into a cone.

[0070] FIG. 3 shows a front view of another embodiment of a packaged frozen confection of the invention.

[0071] FIG. 4 shows an embodiment of a sleeve suitable for use in the invention.

[0072] FIG. 5 shows the packaged frozen confection of FIG. 1 additionally comprising the sleeve of FIG. 4 applied to the pouch.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0073] FIGS. 1a to 1c show a packaged frozen confection (1) according to an embodiment of the invention. The packed confection (1) comprises a flexible pouch (2) which envelopes the frozen confection.

[0074] The pouch comprises a wall (4) formed from a sheet of a multilayer polymer laminate film, wherein following formation of a gusset (7), opposing front and back faces (11a, 11b) have been heat-sealed together at side edges (9a, 9b) and a top edge (3) of the wall (4). The pouch extends from a base end (6) in a longitudinal direction to a top end (5). On the underside of the base end (6) is a gusset (7) which forms a base on which the pouch (2) is self-standing on a flat surface. As best seen in FIG. 1b, owing to the presence of the gusset (7), the pouch (2) is thickest at the base end (6) and has a thickness that tapers in the longitudinal direction.

[0075] At one corner of the top end (5) a product outlet (8) in the form of a spout is sealingly engaged with the wall (4), for example through heat sealing or adhesive. Although not shown, the product outlet (8) is preferably closable by a removable cap.

[0076] FIG. 2 shows the pouch (2) when being used to dispense a portion of frozen confection (40) into a receptacle (50) such as a wafer cone. The specific shape of the pouch is designed to encourage a user to grip and squeeze the base end (6) with a first hand (60a) whilst supporting the top end (5) of the pouch (2) with a second hand (60b) with the nozzle (8) directed towards the receptacle (50). This ensures that the dispensing force consistently urges the frozen confection within the pouch towards the spout (8) and not to other parts of the pouch (2).

[0077] FIG. 3 shows another embodiment of the packaged frozen confection (20) of the invention. The pouch (22) is similar to the pouch (2) shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and has a spout (28) and a wall (24) extending in a longitudinal direction from a gusseted base end (26) to a top end (25) and sealed at top (23) and side (29a, 29b) edges. The pouch (22) shown in FIG. 3 differs from that of FIGS. 1 and 2 in that each of the side edges (29a, 29b) comprises an indented portion (30a, 30b) approximately mid-way between the top (25) and bottom (26) ends. The presence of the indented portions (30a, 30b) make gripping of the pouch (22) by the side edges (29a, 29b) for dispensing awkward for a user and so further encourages a user to handle the pouch (20) by the base (26) and top (25) ends during dispensing.

[0078] FIG. 4 shows a sleeve (10) suitable for use with the packaged frozen confection (1) of FIG. 1 in a state ready to receive the pouch (2). The sleeve is formed from a single sheet of insulating elastomeric material (such as, for example foamed neoprene) rolled into a cylindrical tube extending from a base opening (18) to a top opening (13) which, when applied to the pouch (2) is disposed at the top end (5) of the pouch (2). A retaining strap (16) spans the base opening (18). The sleeve (10) comprises two retaining flaps (12a and 12b), disposed at the top edge and a side edge of the sleeve respectively. Each flap (12a, 12b) has a reversible attachment area (14a, 14b) corresponding with an associated attachment area (15a, 15b) on an outer surface of the sleeve (10). The attachment areas are corresponding such that they form a reversible bond on contact. For example the attachment areas (14a and 14b) on the flaps could comprise hooks and the corresponding areas (15a and 15b) comprise loops such that on contact they form a hook-and-loop bond. Such hook-and-loop fasteners are well known in the art and include those sold under the Velcro® brand.

[0079] The sleeve (10) is applied to the pouch (2) by inserting the base end (6) of the pouch (2) into the top opening (13) of the sleeve (10) and then sliding the sleeve upwards until the strap (16) contacts the base of the pouch (2). The flaps (12a and 12b) are then folded around the top end (5) of the pouch (2) and secured in place by mating of the respective the attachment areas (14a with 15a and 14b with 15b). Thus as shown in FIG. 5, with the sleeve (10) applied to the pouch (2), the flaps (12a and 12b) snugly retain the top end (5) such that when the packaged frozen confection is inverted for dispensing, the pouch (2) does not fall out of the sleeve (10).

[0080] Dispensing is best achieved by a user gripping the sleeve in the vicinity of the top end (5) and the base end (6) and squeezing and rolling the base end (6) upwards and inwards towards the top end (5).

[0081] After dispensing, the attachment areas (14a, 15a, 14b, 15b) can be unfastened simply by pulling the flaps (12a, 12b) outwards. The pouch (2) can then be slid upwards and out of the sleeve (10) without the product outlet (8) coming into contact with the sleeve (10). The pouch (2) can then be placed in a freezer for storage. On removal of the pouch (2) from the freezer for the next dispensing occasion, the sleeve (10) can then be reapplied to the pouch (2) as described above, thus preventing the user from having to touch the very cold outer wall (4) of the pouch (2) during dispensing.

[0082] The present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the following Examples.

EXAMPLE 1

[0083] Two ice creams were formulated with varying ice contents (as calculated at −18° C.) and erythritol amounts as shown in Table 1 (amounts in % w/w).

TABLE-US-00001 TABLE 1 1 2 Coconut oil 8.00 8.00 Skimmed milk, powder 4.15 4.15 Whey protein, concentrate (30%) 2.73 2.73 Low Fructose Corn Syrup (63 DE) 11.03 10.41 Dextrose monohydrate 16.73 15.80 Sucrose 1.91 1.81 Erythritol 1.58 2.3 Gums 0.30 0.30 Kappa Carrageenan 0.02 0.02 Monodiglyceride 0.33 0.33 Flavour 0.28 0.28 Colour 0.01 0.01 Water to 100 to 100

[0084] The properties of the formulations are shown in Table 2.

TABLE-US-00002 TABLE 2 1 2 Ice Content (% w/w) 36 37 Freezing Point Depressants (% w/w) 31 30 <M>.sub.n (g mol.sup.−1) 214 212 Erythritol (% w/w) 1.6 2.3

[0085] The ice creams were prepared by pasteurizing and homogenizing mixes prepared according to the above formulations. The mixes were aged at 4° C. overnight before freezing and aerating in a scraped surface heat exchanger (standard ice cream freezer). The air input to the freezer was controlled to give a target overrun of 100% (actual overrun varied between 92 and 110%). Freezing was controlled to give a target extrusion temperature of −7° C. (actual extrusion temperature varied between −6 and −9° C.).

[0086] The mixes were extruded directly into commercial food-grade pouches used for beverages and similar to the pouch shown in FIG. 1. The pouch wall material was a laminate film comprising polyethylene terephthalate, aluminium, oriented polyamide and polyethylene. The product outlet was a spout with an internal diameter of 22 mm. The capacity of each pouch was 750 ml. An amount of 425 g of ice cream was filled into each pouch through the spout and then a closure cap screwed in place. The pouches were then hardened in a blast freezer and then transferred to a domestic freezer (−18° C.) for several days before use.

[0087] When the pouches were removed from the freezer, they were found to be extremely cold to the touch such that they could be held only for a few seconds before becoming uncomfortable to handle.

[0088] On the other hand, by applying sleeves to the pouches as shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the pouches could be comfortably handled for several minutes. The sleeves were made from 1 mm thick foamed neoprene sandwiched between Lycra™ fabric and could easily be removed from and reattached to a pouch multiple times.

EXAMPLE 2

[0089] Further packaged ice creams were prepared in a similar manner as described in Example 1 except using a different pouch. The pouch shape was as shown in FIG. 3. The pouch wall material was a laminate film comprising polyethylene terephthalate, oriented polyamide and polyethylene layers but without an aluminium layer. The product outlet was a spout with an internal diameter of 22 mm. The capacity of each pouch was 400 ml. An amount of 230 g of ice cream was filled into each pouch through the spout and then a closure cap screwed in place. The pouches were then hardened in a blast freezer and then transferred to a domestic freezer (−18° C.) for several days before use.

[0090] When the pouches were removed from the freezer, because of the difference in pouch film material and smaller size compared to the pouches of Example 1, the pouches were found to be convenient to handle even without application of a sleeve. Furthermore the shape and size of the pouches allowed for convenient and almost complete dispensing of the contents by a user.