Vacuum packaging with hermetic reclosure

Claim 1

In a vacuumized and hermetically sealed package having a peelable hermetic reclosure and having a body member of semi-rigid self-supporting plastic with a first planar marginal portion and a central portion shaped to provide a packaging chamber, a flexible dimensionally stable base member panel having a corresponding second planar marginal portion and a central portion to provide a closure for said packaging chamber, the package prepared by placing a sufficient quantity of a proteinaceous product in the central portion of the body member to substantially fill the central portion when the package is completed, positioning the first planar marginal portion face-to-face to the corresponding second planar marginal portion, vacuumizing the assembly, and hermetically sealing the package, the improvement comprising applying prior to sealing an adhesive to either the first or the second planar marginal portion to provide at least a portion of the hermetic seal wherein said adhesive is a high molecular weight pressure sensitive hot-melt adhesive having a viscosity of between about 5,000 and about 100,000 centipoise at 300° F. and said adhesive provides a peelable, resealable hermetic reclosure, wherein said flexible dimensionally stable base member panel is a plastic film component having a coefficient of thermal expansion which is greater than that of said semi-rigid plastic body member, and wherein said flexible base member film component panel adhered to said semi-rigid body member through said high molecular weight pressure sensitive hot-melt adhesive remains so adhered and precludes the onset of curling of said flexible panel away from and wrinkling of said flexible panel with respect to the semi-rigid body member upon having been subjected to heating to activate the hot-melt adhesive followed by cooling and storage under refrigeration conditions for the proteinaceous product.