The present invention relates to a bag for packaging food products, which is particularly applicable to the packaging of fruit and vegetable products, such as citrus fruit or root vegetables.

There are many known embodiments of bags for packaging and marketing food products. Particularly well known are breathable bags designed for packaging and marketing fruit and vegetable products such as citrus fruit, root vegetables and suchlike. These bags, unlike conventional plastic bags, allow the product to breathe, lengthening its storage time and enabling the buyer to inspect the appearance, touch and smell of their contents.

These bags are normally manufactured from a continuous tubular element, made from a flexible and preferably heat-sealable material, generally in the form of mesh, cut transversally to form portions of tubular mesh.

During the packaging process of the product, the mouths at each end of these portions of tubular mesh are closed separately by staples or welding. To close the mouths at each end of the portions of tubular mesh by heat sealing, they are conventionally provided with strips of a heat-sealable material in pairs, applied to respective sides of the tubular mesh at each end thereof, which are subsequently joined by heat sealing, the end portion of the tubular mesh being partially melted and embedded between the two strips of the same pair. In some variants of bags, the strips applied to the opposite ends of the same side of the tubular mesh are continuously joined and optionally fastened by points to the corresponding side of the tubular mesh.

This operation requires the use of sufficient heat from outside to melt the material that constitutes the inner face of the strips and the tubular mesh, the products contained in the bag then being closed therein without it being possible to remove them unless the bag is broken.

It should be stated that the aforementioned continuous tubular mesh is occasionally made from a flat mesh, the longitudinal edges of which are joined to form the continuous tubular mesh.

Spanish utility model No. U1050533 discloses a bag like those described above, the mouths at the ends of which have been closed by heat sealing the strips of heat-sealable material. In the bag disclosed therein one of the strips has been cut at each end, the central portion of said strip having been removed. The remainder of the strip, the ends of which are firmly secured at respective ends of the bag and solidly fastened thereto by heat-sealed points, determines a handle whereby to hold the bag.

The object of utility model No. U9401000 presents, among others, the drawback that, when the bag is completely filled with objects, the handle is in a tight position very close to the surface of the bag, which makes it difficult to hold and use.

Furthermore, it has been seen that in bags with a large capacity, where the strip is of a similar length to the bag, the relatively long length of the bag and the strip make the bag difficult to transport when it is suspended from the handle, as the width of the bag is not significantly reduced and it is at too low a height, hanging at knee-level or below the knees, so that when the bag rotates slightly it can easily knock the user's legs.

Essentially, the bag for packaging food products that is the object of the present invention is characterised in that, being of the type that comprises a flexible tubular body of a woven or extruded tubular mesh, the longitudinal ends of which are closed and fastened to the respective ends of a flexible oblong element that acts as a handle, said oblong element is considerably shorter than the tubular body of the bag; and in that the tubular body is longitudinally overdimensioned in relation to the volume of the products housed therein, so that when it is suspended from the oblong element that acts as a handle, it is U-shaped, with its end sections empty and in a vertical position and with its central portion filled with products. Said bag is provided with a second oblong element. which is also solidly joined to both closed ends of the tubular body, of a considerably shorter length than that of the oblong element that acts as a handle whereby to suspend the bag.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the oblong element that acts as a handle whereby to suspend the bag is shorter than half of the length of the tubular body of the bag, and it has a maximum width of 30 mm.

Preferably, said oblong element is a laminar strip that is adapted to carry printed information.

In a preferred embodiment, said second oblong element is a second flexible laminar strip.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the end portions of said second strip are considerably narrower than the central portion.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the central portion of the second strip is adapted to carry printed information.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the oblong element that acts as a handle and the second oblong element, where applicable, are solidly joined to both longitudinal ends of the tubular body by welding.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the welding is carried out by applying ultrasound.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the oblong element that acts as a handle and the second oblong element, if applicable, are solidly joined to both longitudinal ends of the tubular body by stapling.

According to another characteristic of the invention, the end sections of the tubular mesh that constitutes the tubular body, the longitudinal ends of which are solidly joined to the oblong element that acts as a handle and to the second oblong element, if applicable, are gathered in the area of the joint with or without a particular order.

In the attached drawings an embodiment of the bag that is the object of the invention is illustrated by means of a non-limiting example. In said drawings:

• Fig. 1 shows a perspective view of a bag filled and with only one first oblong element as a handle. It does not form part of the invention.
• Fig. 2 is a similar view to that shown in Fig. 1, of a bag with two flexible oblong elements; and
• Fig. 3 shows a larger-scale cross-sectional view, taken along III-III of Fig. 1.

In Figs. 1 and 2 it can be seen that the bag 1 for packaging products 2 comprises a tubular body 3, preferably made from a flexible mesh, the central portion 3a of which is designed to contain the products 2 contained in the bag 1.

The longitudinal ends 3b, 3c of the mesh are closed, solidly joined to which are the ends of at least a first oblong element 4, shown as a flexible strip, which acts as a handle 5 whereby to suspend the bag 1.

The flexible strip that constitutes the handle 5 in the examples in Figs. 1 and 2 is laminar and is shorter than half of the length of the tubular body 3, so that when the bag is resting on a surface it adopts a position similar to that shown in Fig. 1. Said flexible strip has a maximum width of 30 mm and is adapted to contain printed information about the products 2 contained in the bag 1.

As regards the length of the oblong element 4, it is between approximately 10 cm and approximately 25 cm long, which results in a length that is considerably shorter than the length of conventional bags.

The invention also contemplates equivalent variants for the oblong element 4, which can also act as a handle 5, such as, in addition to the flexible strip shown herein, a cord, a string, a cable, a tape, a strap, a tubular element, an element wound around itself e.g. made from mesh, twine, etc., made from fabric, plastic, metal wire, leather or another material that can support the weight of the full bag 1.

Returning to the example shown in Figs. 1 and 2, in order to keep the flexible strip that acts as a handle upright even when the bag 1 is resting on the surface of a counter, a shelf or suchlike, a second oblong element 6 is provided between the end portions 3b and 3c, consisting of a second flexible laminar strip, as shown in the example in Fig. 2, preferably adapted to receive printed information, of a considerably shorter length than the oblong element 4 that acts as a handle 5. As is shown in Fig. 2, this second laminar strip prevents the end portions 3b and 3c of the tubular body 3 from separating and ensures that the flexible strip that acts as a handle 5, which is strong enough, is not taut and remains upright in a curved shape, thus making it easier for the user to take hold of.

In the case of this example, wherein the oblong element 4 consists of a strip, if it is not designed to be used as a support for printed information or when the necessary printed information does not fit on this strip or cannot be applied to said strip as it creases when used as a handle 5, a second flexible laminar strip as a second oblong element 6 can act as a support for a self-adhesive label or can be printed on directly. For this purpose, the central portion 6a of this second laminar strip can be considerably wider than its end portions 6b, 6c, as shown in Fig. 2.

Unlike known bags, the bag 1 of the invention is overdimensioned, in relation to the volume of products 2 housed therein, so that when it is suspended from the handle 5, the bag is visibly U-shaped, with its end portions 3b, 3c empty and in a vertical position and with its central portion 3a filled with products 2. If the bag were completely filled, it could not adopt the preferred form shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The solid joint between the end portions 3b and 3c of the tubular mesh and the corresponding ends of the oblong elements 4 and 6 can be created using conventional methods, by heat sealing or by stapling.

If the tubular body 3 consists of a woven tubular mesh, made from a material that is woven to form a mesh with wide openings with plastic filaments that are strong enough to support the planned weight of the product 2, or an extruded mesh wherein the tubular mesh is produced by extrusion and expansion of a continuous laminar element made from a plastic material that is subsequently provided with multiple openings, which after a stretching or extending process is transformed into a mesh with a similar appearance to that of a woven mesh, the heat sealing operation can be carried out by ultrasound.

To do this, the two longitudinal end portions 3b and 3c are gathered in the area where they are joined to the oblong element 4, or both oblong elements 4 and 6, if applicable, gathered randomly or folded, preferably along longitudinal folds, and are applied to the ends of said oblong elements 4 and 6, which if consisting of laminar strips can partially (see Fig. 3) or fully surround said end portions 3b and 3c. The material of the mesh and part of the laminar strips are melted by applying ultrasound.

Fig. 3 schematically shows a cross section of the area where the oblong element 4 consisting of a flexible strip and the longitudinal end 3b of the bag 1 of Fig. 1 are joined. In this Fig. 3 the thicknesses of the portion of gathered mesh and the strip have been exaggerated to make it easier to understand.