Peelable, non-sticky, heat-sealable film for packaging fatty and pasty foods

1. A heat-sealable polymer-based multilayer film for peelably and releasably packaging pasty or fatty foods comprising:

a polymer-based core layer having a food-facing side and an exterior-facing side;

a peelable layer on the food-facing side of the core layer, the peelable layer having a food-facing side and a core-facing side, and the peelable layer containing a peeling agent; and

an interior skin layer on the food-facing side of the peelable layer, the interior skin layer having a food-facing side and a core-facing side;

wherein the core layer contains a release agent for diffusion toward the interior skin layer;

wherein the peeling agent in the peelable layer has a saturation capacity for the release agent and the release agent is present in the core layer in a quantity which is greater than said saturation capacity; and

wherein the core layer contains the release agent in a concentration (P c ) which is greater than 0.5×T p ×(P p /T c ), wherein T p is the thickness of the peelable layer, P p is the concentration of peeling agent in the peelable layer, and T c is the thickness of the core layer.

2. The multilayer film of claim 1 wherein the release agent is a polyol ester and the peeling agent is an ethylene copolymer.

3. The multilayer film of claim 1 wherein a concentration of release agent in the core layer is determined as a function of the thickness of the core layer, the thickness of the peelable layer, and the concentration of peeling agent in the peelable layer.

4. The multilayer film of claim 1 wherein the concentration (P c ) of release agent in the core layer is less than 1.5×T p ×(P p /T c ).

5. The multilayer film of claim 2 wherein the release agent polyol ester is selected from the group consisting of glycerol monostearate, glycerol monobehenate, and glycerol monooleate.

6. The multilayer film of claim 2 wherein the peeling agent ethylene copolymer is selected from the group consisting of ethylene acrylic acid copolymer, ethylene methacrylate, and ethylene ethyl acrylate.

7. The multilayer film of claim 1 wherein the thickness of the core layer is between about 10 and about 80 μm.

8. The multilayer film of claim 7 wherein the thickness of the core layer is between about 15 and about 40 μm.

9. The multilayer film of claim 1 wherein the thickness of the peelable layer is between about 0.25 and about 6 μm.

10. The multilayer film of claim 7 wherein the thickness of the peelable layer is between about 0.5 and about 3 μm.

11. The multilayer film of claim 1 wherein the thickness of the interior skin layer is between about 0.25 and about 6 μm.

12. The multilayer film of claim 1 wherein:

the concentration (P c ) of release agent in the core layer is less than 1.5×T p ×(P p /T c );

the release agent is a polyol ester;

the peeling agent is an ethylene copolymer;

the thickness of the core layer is between about 10 and about 80 μm;

the thickness of the peelable layer is between about 0.25 and about 6 μm; and

the thickness of the interior skin layer is between about 0.25 and about 6 μm.

13. The multilayer film of claim 1 wherein the film further comprises:

an exterior skin layer on the exterior-facing side of the core layer.

14. The multilayer film of claim 1 wherein the film further comprises:

an oxygen barrier layer on the exterior-facing side of the core layer.

15. The multilayer film of claim 1 wherein the film is a biaxially oriented polypropylene (BOPP) film.

16. The multilayer film of claim 1 wherein the interior skin layer has a low seal initiation temperature.

17. The multilayer film of claim 13 wherein the exterior skin layer has a low seal initiation temperature.

18. The multilayer film of claim 1 wherein the interior skin layer has matte appearance.

19. The multilayer film of claim 1 wherein the exterior skin layer has matte appearance.