摘要 |
A food container (2) includes a rigid thermoformed plastics carton (4) which holds a dry food 6 and is closed by a removable film closure (8). The film (8) incorporates a hydride which is arranged to generate hydrogen on contact with moisture. Additionally, the film (8) is arranged to have relatively high water vapour permeability and relatively low hydrogen gas permeability. In use, water vapour from air surrounding the container (2) passes into the film (8) and reacts with the hydride to generate hydrogen. Due to the relatively low hydrogen permeability of the film (8), the hydrogen is restricted from escaping from the container. Instead, the hydrogen then reacts with any oxygen within the container in a reaction catalysed by a catalyst associated with the carton (4), thereby to scavenge oxygen within the container (2) and protect the food (6) from oxidation. |