CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS [0001] This application claims priority from U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/952,779, filed on December 23, 2019 and U.S. Patent Application No. 17/128,959 filed on December 21, 2020, in the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The disclosure of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] This invention relates to a sheet-material structure having tamper evident features, and more particularly, to a sealable delivery bag with improved tamper evident features, convenience of opening, and method therefor.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0003] Many food service providers, such as restaurants and cafeterias, provide food delivery services to nearby customers either directly or through third parties. Plastic bags are ubiquitously utilized for carrying food items from the food preparer’s facility to their destination which can be a consumer’s home, a college campus, or a business organization. Thus, food items and related products may undergo multiple touch points and additional handling during transit from the preparer’s facility to the final user depending on the type of delivery destination. Maintaining food integrity and sanitation, throughout the supply chain, requires robust delivery packaging that cannot be readily tampered, or at least provides conspicuous indication of tamper in those instances it does occur.

[0004] Various solutions have existed for partially sealing the open mouth end of a delivery bag, by generally incorporating an adhesive strip closure, and providing side vents at either end of the mouth region of the delivery bag for expelling trapped air within the bag or steam emanating from hot foods. It has been noticed, however, that the side vents on these bags can often create access point(s) into the bag. In addition, depending on the diligence in properly aligning and assembling the bag panels, after the adhesive is exposed, the size of side vents may vary if the bag panels are not properly aligned and the delivery bag may consequently become susceptible to tampering.

[0005] What is needed, therefore, is a delivery bag that — assures sanitation and tamper detection; and, prevents tampering through the side vents on delivery bags.

These and other needs, as shall hereinafter appear, are met by the delivery bag and method of the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] An insight that led to the present invention was the recognition that the side vents created by partially sealing the open mouth-end of some delivery bags may themselves create access points into the bag; and tamper through the side vents may not be readily detected or even detectable. In addition, the size of the side vents on the delivery bags may vary due to improper assembly or alignment errors that may inadvertently occur while applying the adhesive strip closure to the opposite wall or panel of the bag, particularly at busy times as are frequently encountered at restaurants and other food service establishments.

[0007] An object of the present invention is to overcome the disadvantages of delivery bags wherein the side vents around the adhesive closure can be susceptible to tamper and small food objects, such as french fries that are typically served in a non- lidded container, may be retrieved through the vents provides in some prior art bags.

[0008] Another object of the present invention is to overcome one of the disadvantages of delivery bags in that when a consumer severs the top portion of the delivery bags, in order to access and extract food containers from the bag, a second bag remnant is often created that now needs to be additionally disposed.

[0009] Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an easy tearaway strip for allowing a user to conveniently retrieve food items from the tamper evident delivery bag constructed according to an embodiment of the invention.

[0010] An additional object of the present invention is to provide a sidewall venting system for expelling steam and air from the bag that is not susceptible to tamper or at least will provide conspicuous indication of tamper. In embodiments, the venting system includes a plurality of vents wherein the individual vents are distributed across the bag surface to facilitate localized venting of steam emanating from hot foods. Individual vents within the plurality of vents may be configured in the form of small narrow slits that may be straight or curvilinear or any other shape. A distributed venting system confers a few advantages in that — it allows placement of individual vents in close proximity to the food items thereby preventing excessive condensation within the bag; smaller vents further deter tamper and facilitate tamper detection; and vent sizes remain consistent as vents are not created during bag assembly or closure of the adhesive strip whereby improper assembly can make the bag more susceptible to tamper or compromise tamper detection through the venting system.

[0011] Still another object of the present invention is to provide an easy-open bag configuration that allows a user for opening a sealed tamper evident bag by providing a tear initiation slit proximate a perforated tear line that allows a user to conveniently push through the slit and propagate tear along the perforations.

[0012] Accordingly, the present invention relates to a bag comprising mutually opposing front and rear walls wherein the interior surfaces of front and rear walls are in close contact or contiguous relationship when the bag is closed in a flat or folded configuration. The front and rear walls terminate into front and rear flaps respectively to form a flap region at a top end of the bag, with the front and rear flaps forming an openable mouth portion at a top end of said bag. The front and rear walls of the bag are joined together to form a closed bottom end which may include pleated portions or a gusset. The side edges of the front and rear walls below the flap region are joined or sealed together by thermal welding or heat sealing or other bonding methods known in the art. The sealed side edges of the front and rear walls in cooperation with the closed bottom end of the bag define a carrying or holding cavity within the bag. In embodiments, the closed bottom end of the bag may include a gusset or folded or pleated region(s) for providing a relatively flat bottom area for loading and accommodating one or more food containers or similar items into the bag in an upright orientation with relative ease. Accordingly, the mouth portion of the bag is openable, by separating the front and rear flaps, for depositing to-be-carried items in the holding cavity of the bag. The bag can be constructed from a sheet material such as plastic or paper. The bag preferably includes co-aligned handle openings in the front and rear flaps proximate the top edges thereof for allowing a user to conveniently lift the bag by inserting their hand or fingers through the handle openings.

[0013] The bag further includes an adhesive closure system positioned across an interior surface of one of the walls, below the flap region of the bag, and extending laterally from one sealed side edge of the bag to another sealed side edge of the bag. The adhesive closure system includes an adhesive strip that can be deployed on-demand by removing a protective liner covering the adhesive strip and locally sealing off the front and rear walls by bringing together the adhesive-strip region on one of the walls with the corresponding region on the opposite wall. In accordance with the present invention, since the adhesive closure system spans the entire lateral width of the bag, i.e. from one sealed edge to another sealed edge, deploying the adhesive closure in an edge-to-edge configuration effectively closes off the mouth end of the bag and substantially prevents access therethrough. The edge-to-edge sealed configuration of the bag is characterized by absence of side vents on either side of the closure strip and prevents bag security from being compromised, as venting around the closure strip may be susceptible to tampering. According to the present invention, the edge-to-edge seal of the adhesive closure system eliminates venting around the adhesive strip and the possibility of tamper therethrough. The bag according to the present invention, includes provisions for distributed venting in the form relatively small or narrow slits or vent holes for expelling steam or vapor from the bag being emitted by hot foods while at the same time preventing access into the bag.

[0014] The features and advantages described herein are not all-inclusive and many additional features and advantages will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of the drawings, specification, and the claims. Moreover, it should be noted that the language used in the specification has been principally selected for readability and instructional purposes, and not to limit the scope of the inventive subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] FIG. 1 is a front view of a tamper evident bag in a flat configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0016] FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view of the bottom gusseted section of bag 10 in a partially open state;

[0017] FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view of the bottom gusseted section of bag 10 in a nearly flat configuration; [0018] FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the tamper evident bag of FIG. 1 showing the adhesive closure system;

[0019] FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the tamper evident bag shown in FIG. 3 showing the adhesive liner in a partially peeled state;

[0020] FIG. 5 is a perspective view of a sealed tamper evident bag with food containers therein according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] FIG. 6A is a front view of a tamper evident bag in a flat configuration according to another embodiment of the present invention that includes a tear initiation slit;

[0022] FIG. 6B is an enlarged view of arcuate tear initiation slit of FIG. 6A;

[0023] FIG. 6C is an enlarged view of a tear initiation slit having a tent-top shape according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0024] FIG. 6D is an enlarged view of a tear initiation slit that is perpendicular to perforated tear line according to yet another embodiment of the present invention;

[0025] FIG. 6E shows the tamper evident opening created after piercing a finger through the tear initiation slit of FIG. 6D;

[0026] FIG. 7 is a front view of a tamper evident bag in a flat configuration showing multi-functional arcuate slit regions along perforated tear line according to an embodiment of the present invention; [0027] FIG. 8A is a front view of a tamper evident bag comprising a frangible strip with perforated tear line sections according to still another embodiment of the present invention;

[0028] FIG. 8B is a front view of a tamper evident bag showing the frangible strip of FIG. 8A in a partially severed configuration;

[0029] FIG. 9 is a front view of a tamper evident bag wherein the front and rear flaps are not of equal size, according to another embodiment of the present invention;

[0030] FIG. 10 is a front view of a tamper evident bag wherein the front and rear flaps are non-symmetrical, according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] The present invention relates to a novel tamper evident sheet-material structure having utility as a delivery device for food service and similar applications. The delivery device according to the invention could be constructed from a variety of sheet-like materials including plastic, paper, netting, foam, or combinations thereof. The terms “delivery device” or “delivery bag” are not intended to be restrictive or utility-limiting. Accordingly, the bag or device according to the present invention can be used for a variety of purposes including, but not limited to, food-delivery, pharmaceutical or nutraceutical delivery, packaging for non-food items such as electronics, a secure shopping bag for holding purchased items and preventing theft at a retail location, or for securing contents during duty-free shopping at an airport.

[0032] The present invention is described herein with reference to only a few of the exemplary embodiments detailing tamper evident delivery bag(s), nonetheless, it should be understood that the description herein is illustrative of the invention and is not to be considered as limiting the invention to the specific embodiments or features that are shown or described. The invention is capable of various modifications and variations that can be conceived by one of skill in the art without undue experimentation, and all such modifications and variations are deemed to be included within the scope of the invention.

[0033] In general, it would be understood by those of ordinary skill that the present invention can be adapted for assembling sheet-like materials into delivery devices irrespective of the material of construction. Accordingly, materials such as paper, plastic(s), bioplastic(s), non-woven webs, fibrous webs, foam sheets, netting, foil, other sheet like substrates, and combinations thereof can be utilized to practice various embodiments of the invention. Sheet materials used for practicing various embodiments of the invention may be opaque, translucent, or transparent depending on the physical properties of selected materials and the intended application.

[0034] It will also be realized by those skilled in the art that the disclosed delivery device or bag can be of a size, strength and carrying capacity in accordance with the size, dimensions and weight of the contents or containers to be carried therein, and that the bag size and other physical properties of the delivery bag can be readily adjusted according to the specific application or desired/intended use situation. The following description and accompanying drawings provide further details and examples of the invention and its embodiments, wherein like numeric or alphanumeric designations represent like parts.

[0035] Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown a plastic bag 10 according to an embodiment of the invention that features improved security and tamper evidence. In general, the corresponding parts or features in the front and rear of bag 10 are represented with the same numeric designation except that corresponding rear parts or features are generally denoted in an alphanumeric format with the suffix “r”. It will be realized that relative terms such as front, rear, left and right are primarily used to orient the reader in relation to the accompanying illustrations for providing an understanding of the invention.

[0036] Bag 10 comprises a front wall section 110 and a rear wall section l lOr (not shown). The front and rear wall sections 110 and l lOr are arranged in a mutually superposed and congruent relationship when bag 10 is held closed with inner surfaces of wall sections 110 and l lOr being in close contact with each other. The front wall section 110 and rear wall section l lOr include a flap region comprising front and rear flaps 112 and 112r respectively, with the flap region defining a mouth end of bag 10. The front and rear flaps 112 and 112r include respective handle openings 122 and 122r that are congruously aligned to allow a user to lift bag 10 by inserting their fingers through openings 122 and 122r. Top edges of flaps 112 and 112r are denoted by alpha- numerals 150 and 150r respectively. Plastic bag 10 may be formed of any suitable thermoplastic material including polyethylene film material, non-woven web material, or compostable film material.

[0037] The side extremities of front and rear wall sections 110 and l lOr below the flap region are joined or sealed together at side edges 114 and 116 by a heat-sealing process or by other bonding methods known in the art. The sealed side edge 114 connects the front section 110 and rear section l lOr at the left extremity of bag 10 with top transition corner 124 defining the left transition between the flap region and sealed side edge 114. Similarly, the sealed side edge 116 connects the front section 110 and rear section l lOr at the right extremity of bag 10 with top transition corner 126 defining the right transition between the flap region and sealed side edge 116.

[0038] Front wall section 110 includes a bottom front edge 144; similarly, rear wall section l lOr includes a bottom rear edge 144r. Bag 10 includes a provision for extra folded material tucked in-between front and rear wall sections 110 and l lOr for creating a bottom gusset section 140.

[0039] The front and rear wall sections 110 and l lOr, joined at side edges 114 and 116, in cooperation with the bottom gusseted section 140 provide a closed space defining a holding cavity 170 within bag 10, which is accessible by opening bag 10 (see for example FIG. 2B). Accordingly, the holding cavity 170 in bag 10 can be accessed by opening the mouth end of bag 10 by pulling apart the front and rear flap portions 112 and 112r away from each other, and thereby separating the front and rear wall sections 110 and l lOr and flattening the fold line or crease 142 in the bottom gusseted section 140 for rendering bag 10 in an open condition for receiving intended items such as food containers.

[0040] Referring now to FIG. 2A, there is shown a cross-sectional view of bag 10 in a partially open condition illustrating the folded structure of bottom gusseted section 140 provided between the front and rear wall sections 110 and l lOr. Bottom gusseted section 140 includes folded material that is tucked-in (pleated) from the bottom front edge 144 and the bottom rear edge 144r forming pleats comprising a fold line or crease 142. Specifically, front pleat 146 is tucked in from the bottom front edge 144; and rear pleat 146r is tucked in from bottom rear edge 144r. The front and rear pleats 146 and 146r meet integrally at fold line or crease 142.

[0041] FIG. 2B, shows a cross-sectional view with front and rear wall sections 110 and l lOr being spaced substantially apart wherein the bottom gusseted section 140 is shown in a nearly flat configuration thereby facilitating utilization of holding cavity 170 for accommodating and receiving one or more food containers 180 in an upright orientation with relative ease.

[0042] Bag 10 further includes an adhesive closure system 130 that provides improved security and tamper evidence to a consumer particularly when food, drinks, medicine or similar items are delivered by a third-party or through a delivery service. Referring now to FIGS. 3 and 4, bag 10 is shown in a partially open state with front flap 112 turned down revealing the adhesive closure system 130.

[0043] In general, adhesive closure system 130 is applied to one of the wall sections of bag 10. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, adhesive closure system 130 is shown as being applied to the rear wall section l lOr of bag 10 and is placed below the top transition corners 124 and 126 and extends laterally from left side edge 114 to right side edge 116 thereby spanning the entire width of the bag. In accordance with the objective of the current invention, the placement of the adhesive closure system 130 below the top transition corners 124 and 126 ensures that the adhesive closure system 130 extends across the entire lateral width of the bag, i.e. from one sealed edge (114) to another sealed edge (115) thereby ensuring that access points around the closure system 130 into the bag 10 are eliminated once the closure system has been deployed. The edge-to-edge configuration of the adhesive closure, according to the present invention, creates a closed bag periphery and effectively closes off the mouth end of the bag and substantially prevents access therethrough.

[0044] As best shown in FIG. 4, adhesive closure system 130 includes a removable liner 136 for protecting the active adhesive surface layer 138 just underneath the liner so that it can be readily utilized when needed and for preventing pre-mature or inadvertent sealing of bag 10 prior to intended use. Removable liner 136 may include printed indicia such as REMOVE TO SEAL or similar instructions or messaging for alerting or guiding the packer or user for removing the liner prior to sealing the bag. According to an embodiment of the invention, removable liner 136 may be rendered conspicuous by using a different color substrate material or providing bold colored printing on the outer surface thereof for providing a sharp contrast against the wall sections of bag 10 and to draw the user’s attention to the tamper evident section and the adhesive closure system 130. Once food items have been placed in the holding cavity 170 of the bag 10, removable liner 136 is peeled off from the rear wall section l lOr thereby exposing adhesive strip 138. The exposed adhesive strip 138 on the rear wall section l lOr is now ready to be pressed against the opposite wall of bag 10 to create a tamper evident bag assembly. Accordingly, once bag 10 has been loaded with food and the removable liner 136 has been peeled off from the rear wall section l lOr, the adhesive closure system 130 can be deployed by pressing exposed adhesive strip 138 against a corresponding region of the front wall section 110 and thereby sealing off the front and rear wall sections 110 and l lOr together to practically eliminate access into the bag through the mouth-end of bag 10.

[0045] After the bag 10 has been sealed by adhesively bonding the front and rear wall sections 110 and l lOr, the bag can be opened by a user by tearing along a tear section which may be linear and is depicted as tear line 132 provided on at least one of the side walls of the bag. Tear line 132 can be configured as a set of perforations provided on at least one of the front and rear wall sections of bag 10. Also as shown in FIG. 1, indicia 134 may be printed or affixed on the bag that may include - a statement about the tamper evident features of the bag; tearing instructions such as “Tear here to open,” guiding the user for initiating tear for opening the bag; or warning message to alert the consumer to return delivered bag if package has been compromised or appears tampered with. In the embodiment shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 tear line 132 is provided in only the front wall section 110. In alternate embodiments of the invention, tear lines can be provided on both the front and rear wall sections of the bag 10, and tear line 132 can be congruently paired with a corresponding tear line 132r provided in the rear wall section 1 lOr for tearing away the flap region of bag 10. Providing the tear line or perforations on only one of the wall sections of the bag offers an advantage in that - during the process of opening bag 10 from a sealed condition the flap region of the bag stays connected to the bag even after tearing the perforations thereby avoiding a second piece of nuisance trash that needs to be additionally disposed or even when disposed may not be easily recovered or recycled. Since all tear lines practically constitute potential access points into the bag, an additional advantage of limiting the tear line to only one of the wall sections is that signs of tamper would be easier to detect for a user in the bag construction according to the exemplary embodiment shown herein.

[0046] In the exemplary embodiment of FIGS. 3 and 4, the adhesive closure system 130 and tear line 132 are located on mutually opposing wall sections of bag 10, however, it will be realized that both of these features can be implemented on the same wall section and can be applied to either the front wall section or the rear wall section of bag 10.

[0047] Referring now to FIG. 5, there is shown a perspective view of a sealed tamper evident bag 10 with food containers 180 placed in the holding cavity 170 of the bag 10. The adhesive closure system is now shown in its deployed state using the designation 130d with the adhesive strip 138 joining the front and rear walls 110 and 1 lOr to form a sealed barrier that prevents access to the food containers 180 or generally to the contents placed in the holding cavity 170. A distinct advantage of sealing off the entire mouth end of bag 10 is that any tamper can be readily detected and it eliminates an avenue of potential tampering wherein the adhesive closure only closes off a partial portion of the mouth-end of the bag and the presence of vents at either end of the adhesive closure may either potentially invite tampering or inadvertently provide access into the bag.

[0048] Adhesive closure system 130 and in particular adhesive strip 138 are configured to provide sufficiently strong bond between the front and rear wall sections of bag 10 for preventing failure of the adhesive layer at the junction interface and assuring tamper detection, such that the adhesive junction between the wall sections of bag 10 is not easily compromised even when tamper is attempted, while persistent efforts to open bag 10 resulting in readily apparent substrate stress, stretch marks, tearing or other discernible signs of tamper. The adhesive layer and the wall sections of bag 10 are strong enough to withstand carrying stress exerted by the weight of food containers as bag 10 is physically lifted and carried by a user during at least a portion of the delivery trip to the delivery destination.

[0049] Furthermore, the adhesive bond between the wall sections of bag 10 is not compromised due to incidental steam or moisture build-up at the interior of bag 10 when the adhesive closure system 130 is deployed right after hot foods are placed in bag 10. Accordingly, bag 10 includes a sidewall venting system comprising a plurality of vents generally denoted by numeral 120 that are configured for expelling steam or air. The individual vents 120 are distributed across the bag surface to facilitate localized venting of steam emanating from hot foods and wherein the individual vents are sufficiently small to inhibit tamper or to at least provide conspicuous indication of tamper through the vents. Vents 120 may be configured in the form of small narrow slits that may be straight or curvilinear or any other shape. A distributed venting system confers a few advantages in that — it allows placement of individual vents in close proximity to the food items thereby preventing excessive condensation within the bag; smaller vents further deter tamper and facilitate tamper detection; and vent sizes remain consistent as vents are not created during bag assembly or closure of the adhesive strip whereby improper assembly can lead to vent size variability and make the bag more susceptible to tamper. An additional advantage of the venting system according to the present invention is that the individual vents are disposed on the wall section of the bag and are directly noticeable by a user from a casual inspection of the outer surface of the bag thereby facilitating tamper detection. In contrast, the vents on some of the prior-art bag assemblies lie between the front and rear walls of the bag and are not directly viewable by a casual inspection of bag thus making tamper detection difficult.

[0050] As discussed above, once bag 10 has been delivered, in a sealed configuration with food or other contents therein, to its intended destination the sealed bag would likely undergo a quick security and safety check for ensuring that it was not tampered during delivery. Thereafter the bag can be opened by sliding or inserting a finger below the seal for tearing the wall section of bag 10 along tear line 132. The tear line 132 shown in FIGS. 1, and 3 through 5, shows tear line 132 in the form of linear perforations extending laterally from one side edge of the bag to another.

[0051] Referring now to FIG. 6A there is shown another embodiment of the invention showing bag 20 wherein like parts bear like reference numerals. It will be generally recognized that while the purpose of a tamper evident construction is to deter unauthorized tampering of the bag, it is desirable to allow the intended user to open the bag with relative ease at the post-delivery point of use. Bag 20 features an “easy open” construction wherein at least one tear initiation slit 162 is provided at an end of tear line 132 proximate side edge 116 of bag 20. In the embodiment shown tear initiation slit 162 is of a generally arcuate shape although other slit configurations such as linear and A-frame slits are within the scope of the invention. A user can utilize slit 162 for initiating and propagating tearing of the front wall section 110 by pushing their finger in the arcuate or curved region thereby causing the perforation(s) proximate slit 162 to be severed facilitating opening bag 20 along tear line 132. In FIG. 6A, initiation slit 162 is placed proximate to side edge 116; however, in alternate embodiments initiation slit 162 can be located at any location along tear line 132 including the middle of the bag. In still other embodiments of the invention, a plurality of initiation slits can be provided at various locations along the tear line 132. Accordingly, for instance three initiation slits can be provided along tear line 132 with one initiation slit being provided at each of the side edges of bag 20 and the remaining initiation slit being disposed in the center of tear line 132.

[0052] Referring now to FIG. 6B there is shown a slightly enlarged view of initiation slit 162 of FIG. 6A. Initiation slit 162 is provided on the front wall section 110 of bag 20 at one end of tear strip 132. Initiation slit 162 enables a partially severed section 262 (shown as shaded region in FIG. 6B) to flex away from the plane of front wall section 110. Initiation slit 162 and the severed section 262 so created allow an intended user to thrust their finger therethrough with relative ease and initiate tear along tear line 132. Initiation slit 162 is sized appropriately so that any attempt to access the contents in the sealed bag will trigger tearing along tear line 132 thus activating tamper detection. It will be realized by those skilled in the art that since severed section 262 can flex in either direction from the plane of front wall section 110 it can also function as a supplementary vent.

[0053] FIG. 6C shows an enlarged view of another easy open construction of tamper evident bag 20 wherein the tear initiation slit 163 is configured in the form of a tent-top or A-frame shaped slit located proximate the center of bag that a user can readily utilize by thrusting their finger therethrough for quickly opening bag 20 once the user is assured that the bag was delivered in a secure and untampered condition by the delivery service. Initiation slit 163 is provided on the front wall section 110 of bag 20 at the center of the bag and enables triangular section 263 to flex away from the plane of front wall section 110. The slit structure enables easier propagation along the tear line with minimal struggle and any attempt to access the contents of the bag through the initiation slit 163 will trigger substantial sever of tear line 132 thus providing noticeable evidence of tamper. It will be of course realized that initiation slit 163 can be provided at any of the ends of tear line 132 or at any interim location.

[0054] FIG. 6D shows an enlarged view of yet another easy open construction of tamper evident bag 20 wherein tear initiation slit 232 is configured in form of a narrow linear slit placed perpendicular to perforated tear line 132. Linear slit 232 allows a user to easily insert their finger through slit 232 which then causes the perforation proximate slit 232 to be severed creating a readily visible opening in front wall section 110 of the bag that can be utilized to open the bag by severing it further along tear line 132.

[0055] FIG. 6E shows the condition of the tear initiation slit 232 and tear line 132 after an initial attempt to open bag 20 by piercing a finger therethrough, showing a noticeable opening 240. Opening 240 would provide a quick indication of tamper to a user if he/she receives the delivered bag in such a condition.

[0056] Thus, a variety of slit and tear line combinations are possible according to various embodiments of the invention. The combination of slit structure and tear line confers additional advantages and functionality that are further explained in conjunction with the embodiment shown in FIG. 7.

[0057] FIG. 7 shows yet another embodiment of the invention showing bag 30 that inter alia features multi-functional vents and ease-of-opening a sealed tamper evident bag particularly for a user who is an elderly person. Bag 40 includes a multi-segment tear line 166 with a plurality of intermittent tear initiation incisions or slits generally denoted by numeral 167. Tear initiation slits 167 are configured in the form of a curved or arcuate slit for guiding a user to push their finger (or another slender object such as a pen) therethrough for opening the bag and initiating further tearing along tear line 166 for opening the bag. For an elderly or disabled user pushing through the slit structure of tear initiation slits 167 using a finger or a slender object may be easier for initiating the process of tearing or opening bag 30. The arcuate slit structure of tear initiation slits 167 is designed such that a thrust of the finger into the bag would initiate noticeable tearing along tear line 166 thus allowing an intended user to open the bag easily or if the bag was previously tampered the presence of a pre-existing tear or opening would provide conspicuous indication or inference of tamper and aid in detecting tamper. The tear initiation slits 167 serve multiple purposes in that the slit configuration allows a user to easily open bag by inserting their finger through the slit and propagating the tear along tear line 166. In addition, tear initiation slits 167 also function as vents for eliminating trapped stream from the bag as discussed above in connection with FIG. 6B. Therefore, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 7, no separate vents apart from tear initiation slits 167 are shown on front wall section 110 of bag 40. It will be however realized that supplementary vents can be provided on either front wall section 110 or rear wall section l lOr of bag 30. Multi-functional tear initiation slits that also function as venting incisions can be configured in a variety of shapes for accomplishing the objectives of the invention as described above with reference to FIGS. 6A through 6E. [0058] FIG. 8A shows yet another embodiment of the invention showing bag 40 wherein a frangible tear strip 164 with tear line sections 164a and 164b and starter slit 169 have been provided. Tear strip 164 includes a frontal region or pull tab 165 located proximate starter slit 169 for allowing a user to grasp pull tab 165 and separate tear strip 164 along tear line sections 164a and 164b from the front wall section 110 of the bag. Once tear strip 164 has been pulled away from the bag, even a slight or partial tear will be quite noticeable and provide a clear indication that the bag has been tampered with. FIG. 8B shows tear strip 164 being partially separated from the front wall section 110 by grasping on arcuate pull tab 165 and severing or tearing along tear lines 164a and 164b. Once even a small section of tear strip 164 has been pulled away by tearing along tear line sections 164a and 164b, an opening 250 in the front wall section 110 will be readily apparent to the user. Once frangible tear strip 164 has been pulled away to propagate tearing along tear line sections to a position proximate side edge 114, the contents within bag 40 can be readily retrieved.

[0059] It will be realized that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 through 8B, the front and rear wall sections 110 and l lOr are congruent or identical in shape and size; however other configurations and embodiments wherein the front wall section is dissimilar in size or shape compared to the rear wall section that provide other unique advantages are within the purview of the current invention as further illustrated hereinafter. [0060] Alternate configurations wherein the front and rear flaps are of uneven shape are shown in FIGS. 9 and 10. It has been generally known that it is difficult to open the bag for loading as the congruent front and rear flaps tend to stick with each other delaying the assembly process for food delivery. According to the flap configuration shown in FIG. 9, front flap 112 is slightly smaller than rear flap 112r allowing a food preparer to easily grab the rear flap region that is not covered by the front flap and open bag 50 for loading. According to the flap configuration shown in FIG. 10, front and rear flaps are made non-symmetrical allowing a user to grab the top regions of the front and rear flaps and easily open bag 60 for loading.

[0061] The foregoing description of the embodiments of the invention has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description and not for limiting the scope of the invention. Each and every page of this submission, and all content herein, however characterized, identified, or numbered, is considered a substantive part of this application for all purposes, irrespective of form or placement within the application. This specification is not intended to be exhaustive. Although the present application is shown in a limited number of forms, the scope of the invention is not limited to just these forms but is amenable to various changes and modifications without departing from the spirit thereof. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description that many modifications and variations to the embodiments shown herein are possible in light of this disclosure. Accordingly, the claimed subject matter includes any combination of the above-described elements in all possible variations thereof, unless otherwise indicated herein or otherwise clearly contradicted by context. In particular, the limitations presented in examples of dependent claims below can be combined with their corresponding independent claim examples in any number and in any order without departing from the scope of this disclosure, unless the dependent claims are logically incompatible with each other.