An intestines processing system and method including a conveyor track with carriers, a tissue breaking section and a gallbladder removal station. The carrier can be equipped to move the intestines package through the tissue breaking section for breaking at least some of the tissue connections in the intestines package below the gallbladder, and to move the intestines package through the gallbladder removal station for removing the gallbladder from the remainder of the intestines package.

A conveyor device for conveying food products on a plurality of parallel conveyor tracks and for formatting the food products in a specific product format, especially for conveying and formatting stacks or interleaved units made of a plurality of slices of cheese or meat products is provided. The conveyor device fills a product gap on one of the conveyor tracks incoming on the input side with a food product so that on the output side all parallel conveyor tracks are supplied with the food products when a product gap is sensed. A corresponding method is also provided.

In an embodiment, an apparatus for processing meat product and a method of using same is provided. A first station includes a scanner which scans features of a meat product. A second station side straps the meat product in accordance with information received from the scan of the features. The second station includes a support, and spaced-apart knifes disposed on opposite sides of the support. Each knife has an axis of rotation that is normal to the longitudinal axis of the support. A position of each knife relative to the support in a direction normal to the longitudinal axis can be varied. A controller is programmed to control movement of each knife in accordance with the information received from the scanner.

A method and system is provided for generating batches of food pieces, and includes: conveying incoming food objects through at least one cutting device, where the at least one cutting device is configured to cut the incoming food objects into plurality of food pieces according to at least one first cutting rule, conveying the resulting plurality of cut food pieces to at least one batching system where at least one batch is generated fulfilling at least one first criterion including at least one first weight target. The at least one first cutting rule is selected in accordance to the at least one first weight target such that the resulting weight distribution of the plurality of food pieces entering the batching system fulfils at least one first pre-defined weight target distribution adapted to the at least one first weight target.

An animal ribcage primal cut having a bone array located therein is portioned into one or more sub primal cuts, each having at least one bone located therein. The primal cut is scanned at scanning station 14 while being conveyed on a conveyor 12 to determine the physical characteristics of the primal cut. A processor 18 determines how to portion the primal cut into desired sub primal cuts in accordance with desired physical characteristics of the sub primal cut and production requirements for the sub primal cuts. A controller controls a cutter to divide the primal cut into one or more sub primal cuts according to the determination previously made on how to portion the primal cut into desired sub primal cuts.

A jump shuttle conveyor system is configured to receive formed food patties from a molding assembly of a patty forming machine. The system includes a lifting plate and belt assembly coupled to a frame which are configured to be indexed to different vertical positions relative to the frame. Formed food patties are received on a belt of the belt assembly thereon, and can be moved off of the belt onto a transfer shuttle conveyor system. An output conveyor system can be provided to receive the formed food patties.

This invention relates to a cutting apparatus for cutting food items conveyed on a conveyor including at least one conveyor belt. A cutter is arranged above a gap extending across the at least one conveyor belt. The cutter is positioned in relation to the gap such that the cutting path of the cutter extends through the food items and the gap and below the surface level of the at least one conveyor belt. The cutter is adapted to be connected to a control mechanism for operating crosswise movement of the cutter along the gap. The gap is formed between adjacent elongated supporting means such as rollers with a fixed internal arrangement, where the adjacent elongated supporting means and the cutter is adapted to be connected to a control mechanism for operating back and forth movement of the adjacent elongated supporting means and the cutter parallel to the conveying direction while maintaining the internal arrangement of the adjacent elongated supporting means and the cutter fixed.

A conveyor system includes a frame, a plurality of rollers, a driving mechanism, a plurality of endless belts, and a lifting assembly. The plurality of rollers is rotatably attached to the frame. The driving mechanism is configured to rotate the plurality of rollers. The plurality of endless belts surrounds the plurality of rollers. The lifting assembly includes a plurality of surface and an actuator. The actuator is configured to move the plurality of surfaces between a raised position disposed above the plurality of belts and a lowered position disposed below the plurality of belts.

A conveyor system 24 carries work items, such as flexible, pliable, food products 22, through a scanning system 28 which generates data pertaining to various physical parameters of the food products. Thereafter, the food products are transported through a processing station which may be in the form of a portioning system 30. Next, the portioned food products are transported to a harvesting system 32 utilizing a actuator 34 to unload the food product portions 36 by vacuuming the portions into a nozzle 90. Such food products are transported to one or more desired locations through a hose/tube connected to a nozzle or may be launched through the air in a trajectory aimed at the desired placement location.

The invention relates to a device for moving portions, which each comprise at least one slice cut from a food product, in particular by means of a slicing device, in particular a high-speed slicer, comprising a plurality of individually movable transport movers each for at least one portion, a track system for the transport movers, in which track system the transport movers can be moved along at least one specified track in a transport direction, and a control apparatus for controlling the movements of the transport movers in the track system, wherein the transport movers each comprise at least one runner that interacts with the track system and at least one carrier for at least one portion, the at least one carrier being attached to the runner by means of a retainer, and wherein the drive for each transport mover is formed by the runner and the track system, which together form an electromagnetic drive for the transport mover.