A method and apparatus for filleting fish to produce high yielding fillets from relatively short bodied fish in the size range of about 600 grams to about 3.5 kilograms dependent on species. The method and apparatus are designed to be capable of handling salmon, tilapia, trout, arctic char, barramundi, snappers, walleye pike, striped bass and similar species where the rib follows the contour of the belly cavity. Further, the method and apparatus incorporate belly opening and eviscerating components prior to subjecting the fish to a backbone removal system so that the fish need only be headed, but not gutted, before introduction into the machine.

The invention relates to a suction tool (10), configured and adapted for gutting fish (11) opened at the abdominal cavity, comprising a suction pipe (13) forming a main channel (12), wherein the suction pipe (13) has a connection (14) for a vacuum unit (15) at a free end and a suction opening (16) at the opposing end facing the abdominal cavity in the operating state, wherein the suction opening (16) laterally passes out of the suction pipe (13) and is thereby oriented radially in relation to the central axis M of the suction pipe (13), characterized in that an additional pipe element (23) for forming an auxiliary air channel (24, 31) is arranged in the region of the suction opening (16) of the suction pipe (13), wherein the pipe element (23) is arranged and adapted in such a way that a continuous suction air volume flow is maintained in the operating state of the suction tool (10). The invention also relates to an apparatus (17) and a method for gutting fish (11) opened at the abdominal cavity.

A fish decapitating apparatus includes a fish holder configured to receive a fish with the belly side facing up at an in-feed station, a cutting station and a conveying apparatus configured to convey the fish in the fish holder from the in-feed station to the cutting station. The fish holder includes opposingly arranged guide members moveable in a hinge like manner. The guide members are configured to clamp the fish behind the collar bones such that the collar bones rest on an outer side of the guide members in the clamped state with the fish head sticking out from the fish holder. The fish decapitating apparatus includes a measuring device configured to measure the position of the collar bones when in the clamped position, and a control unit configured to automatically adjust the position of the cutting station during cutting in accordance with the measured position of the collar bones.

A cutting apparatus for cutting an essentially V-shaped strip from meat products fed in a transport direction has a knife carrier to which two knife units are assigned. Each knife unit has a circular knife and a drive for rotationally driving the circular knife about a central axis of rotation. The two circular knives are set substantially in a V-shape to each other in a position enclosing an angle. An adjustable arrangement of the knife units provides for setting of the size of the angle. The offset of the two central axes of rotation to each other is equal to zero in the transport direction and the two knife units are adjustable exclusively synchronously with each other. A corresponding apparatus and method for cutting an essentially V-shaped strip from meat products fed in transport direction is also provided.

A fish head cutting machine for decapitating a fish, comprising: a) a fish support for supporting a fish in an infeed loading zone with its belly side down and its backbone in a substantially horizontal orientation; b) a guide mechanism positioned adjacent the fish support to hold the fish via an anatomical body part, such as its gill plate, collar bone, pectoral fin or pelvic fin, so that only the body of the fish is supported by the fish support; c) a drive mechanism transporting the fish in a downward direction and at an acute angle to vertical from the infeed loading zone downstream to a head cutting zone while the fish is supported on the fish support and held by the guide mechanism; d) a head pusher located between the infeed loading zone and the head cutting zone that engages the head of the fish and tips the head of the fish upwardly and rearwardly as the fish moves downstream to the head cutting zone; and e) head cutting blades located downstream of the head pusher in the cutting zone that cut the head of the fish from the body of the fish.

A method and apparatus for removing guts of a fish body, the method includes: transferring a fish body A, with a head cut off and removed, by a transfer device and cutting open the abdomen thereof with an abdominal blade on the way of transfer; transferring the fish body to a gut removal member and causing membrane separation blades, provided at an upper end portion of the gut removal member, to enter in between a peritoneal membrane portion on both sides of the vertebra and a fish meat inner wall on a head cut-off section of the fish body; swinging the gut removal member downwardly with its lower end portion as fulcrum to tilt the membrane separation blades from the horizontal state and peel off the peritoneal membrane portions from the fish meat inner wall; and shaking off downwardly the guts adhered to the peritoneal membrane portions.

A method and apparatus for removing guts of a fish body, the method includes: transferring a fish body A, with a head cut off and removed, by a transfer device and cutting open the abdomen thereof with an abdominal blade on the way of transfer; transferring the fish body to a gut removal member and causing membrane separation blades, provided at an upper end portion of the gut removal member, to enter in between a peritoneal membrane portion on both sides of the vertebra and a fish meat inner wall on a head cut-off section of the fish body; swinging the gut removal member downwardly with its lower end portion as fulcrum to tilt the membrane separation blades from the horizontal state and peel off the peritoneal membrane portions from the fish meat inner wall; and shaking off downwardly the guts adhered to the peritoneal membrane portions.

A fish decapitating apparatus includes a fish holder configured to receive a fish with the belly side facing up at an in-feed station, a cutting station and a conveying apparatus configured to convey the fish in the fish holder from the in-feed station to the cutting station. The fish holder includes opposingly arranged guide members moveable in a hinge like manner. The guide members are configured to clamp the fish behind the collar bones such that the collar bones rest on an outer side of the guide members in the clamped state with the fish head sticking out from the fish holder. The fish decapitating apparatus includes a measuring device configured to measure the position of the collar bones when in the clamped position, and a control unit configured to automatically adjust the position of the cutting station during cutting in accordance with the measured position of the collar bones.

A vertical packaging machine for packaging products is provided that includes a forming element with an upper mouth and a hopper upstream of the forming element. At least the hopper and the forming element form a conduit through which the product falls. A flow generator includes an injection device for injecting a gaseous fluid through a distributor for directing the fluid to the conduit. The distributer has an inlet mouth for receiving the gaseous fluid and an outlet mouth with an area smaller than the area of the inlet mouth. The injection device is controlled by a control device that is configured to cause the injection device to perform an injection for each product to be packaged in one and the same package, the start and end of which depend on the position of the product with respect to the upper mouth and the outlet mouth.

A fish processing system includes a measurement sensor configured to measure a distance across a head of a fish as the fish moves along a conveyor. A drive mechanism provides movement of a blade across a transport path of the fish along the conveyor in response to the determined distance to accurately sever the head of the fish based on the size of the fish. The system may also include a detection sensor for closing a wall of a trough to reject fish with heads that are not properly removed by the blade as well as an adjustment cylinder to vary a position of a conveyor relative to a fish processing subsystem to avoid jamming. Related methods for severing a portion of each fish in a series of transported fish based on the size of each fish are also provided.