A block former (1) for the production of blocks of cheese (19) includes an upright drainage column (2) having a feed opening (3) for curd particles (4) at an upper end (5) of the drainage column (2). The drainage column (2) includes an inner wall (6) having an interior surface (7) against which a pillar of curd (8) formed of the curd particles (4) slides as the pillar of curd (8) moves downwardly through the drainage column (2). The upright drainage column (2) is divided into an upper part (9) and a lower part (10). The upper part (9) has an inner cross-sectional area that is less than an inner cross-sectional area of the lower part (10).

A method for producing a dairy-based product in pieces, said product being mozzarella cheese or a preparation based on dairy products. The method comprises the steps of: realising a first portion of a sheet (10) of said product; cooling said first portion of the sheet (10); obtaining pieces of said product from said first portion of the sheet (10).

A method for producing a dairy-based product in pieces, said product being mozzarella cheese or a preparation based on dairy products. The method comprises the steps of: realising a first portion of a sheet (10) of said product; cooling said first portion of the sheet (10); obtaining pieces of said product from said first portion of the sheet (10).

Method and device for cutting a soft food mass, in particular for cutting machine-processed cheese, such as processed cheese or mozzarella, whereby the food mass is present as a broad food ribbon of small ribbon thickness, whereby the food ribbon is fed by means of a conveyor belt with a travel speed leading to a longitudinal cutting system, in particular in the form of a cutting roller, which cuts the food ribbon with axially arranged cutting disks into parallel longitudinal strips, whereby the direction of rotation of the longitudinal cutting system corresponds to the travel direction of the food ribbon, whereby the cutting disks in each case have blades that are provided with at least one tooth, whereby the tooth height is greater than the ribbon thickness, whereby the peripheral speed of the cutting roller is adjusted in such a way that a tooth is immersed in the food ribbon when cutting with the tips of the teeth and creates a slot of a specific slot length in the food ribbon that moves in the same direction, whereby the slot created by the subsequent tooth is adjacent to the preceding slot.

Method and device for cutting a soft food mass, in particular for cutting machine-processed cheese, such as processed cheese or mozzarella, whereby the food mass is present as a broad food ribbon of small ribbon thickness, whereby the food ribbon is fed by means of a conveyor belt with a travel speed leading to a longitudinal cutting system, in particular in the form of a cutting roller, which cuts the food ribbon with axially arranged cutting disks into parallel longitudinal strips, whereby the direction of rotation of the longitudinal cutting system corresponds to the travel direction of the food ribbon, whereby the cutting disks in each case have blades that are provided with at least one tooth, whereby the tooth height is greater than the ribbon thickness, whereby the peripheral speed of the cutting roller is adjusted in such a way that a tooth is immersed in the food ribbon when cutting with the tips of the teeth and creates a slot of a specific slot length in the food ribbon that moves in the same direction, whereby the slot created by the subsequent tooth is adjacent to the preceding slot.

A cutting device, knife carrier suitable for use in the cutting device, a cutting system and method for cutting a strand of stacked bands of a food product are disclosed. The cutting device, knife carrier, cutting system and method combine a transverse cutting knife with a diagonal cutting knife disposed at an oblique angle with respect to the transverse cutting knife. The diagonal cutting knife diagonally cuts the stack simultaneously with transverse cutting of the stack by the transverse cutting knife to form substantially triangular prism shaped stacks made of corresponding substantially triangular shaped slices. A food product obtainable by the method is disclosed, wherein (a) the food product comprises at least two stacks of food product, wherein the edges of individual slices forming the hypotenuse of one substantially triangular prism shaped stack are disposed adjacent to the edges of the individual slices forming the hypotenuse of the other substantially triangular prism shaped stack in one-to-one relation to one another and/or (b) the substantially triangular footprint of each stack is in the form of a quadrilateral, wherein at least 80 percent of the surface area of the quadrilateral is triangular.

A cutting device, knife carrier suitable for use in the cutting device, a cutting system and method for cutting a strand of stacked bands of a food product are disclosed. The cutting device, knife carrier, cutting system and method combine a transverse cutting knife with a diagonal cutting knife disposed at an oblique angle with respect to the transverse cutting knife. The diagonal cutting knife diagonally cuts the stack simultaneously with transverse cutting of the stack by the transverse cutting knife to form substantially triangular prism shaped stacks made of corresponding substantially triangular shaped slices. A food product obtainable by the method is disclosed, wherein (a) the food product comprises at least two stacks of food product, wherein the edges of individual slices forming the hypotenuse of one substantially triangular prism shaped stack are disposed adjacent to the edges of the individual slices forming the hypotenuse of the other substantially triangular prism shaped stack in one-to-one relation to one another and/or (b) the substantially triangular footprint of each stack is in the form of a quadrilateral, wherein at least 80 percent of the surface area of the quadrilateral is triangular.

A cutting device, knife carrier suitable for use in the cutting device, a cutting system and method for cutting a strand of stacked bands of a food product are disclosed. The cutting device, knife carrier, cutting system and method combine a transverse cutting knife with a diagonal cutting knife disposed at an oblique angle with respect to the transverse cutting knife. The diagonal cutting knife diagonally cuts the stack simultaneously with transverse cutting of the stack by the transverse cutting knife to form substantially triangular prism shaped stacks made of corresponding substantially triangular shaped slices. A food product obtainable by the method is disclosed, wherein (a) the food product comprises at least two stacks of food product, wherein the edges of individual slices forming the hypotenuse of one substantially triangular prism shaped stack are disposed adjacent to the edges of the individual slices forming the hypotenuse of the other substantially triangular prism shaped stack in one-to-one relation to one another and/or (b) the substantially triangular footprint of each stack is in the form of a quadrilateral, wherein at least 80 percent of the surface area of the quadrilateral is triangular.

A food storage and dispensing device includes a food holder configured to contain a sliceable item of food on the support surface and between the side walls. The food holder has a dispensing opening located at the first end. The device further includes a lid moveably mounted over the food holder so as to have an open position and a closed position and an end cap, having an upper edge coupled to the lid at a location proximate to the first end. The end cap is oriented to cover the dispensing opening when the lid is in the closed position and has a lower edge opposite the upper edge, the lower edge configured to slice the sliceable item of food when the lid is moved from the open position to the closed position.

A transverse cutting roller 1 for the transverse cutting of a flat product moving in a transport direction, in particular a viscous foodstuff, such as industrially produced cheese 14, wherein a transverse cutting blade 3, which bridges the product, which is intended to be cut, transversely to the transport direction, is held on a carrier shaft 2 by a plurality of axially spaced blade carriers 4 mounted on the carrier shaft 2, wherein each blade carrier has at least one carrier element 7, which extends radially outward with respect to the rotational axis A of the carrier shaft 2 when the blade carrier 4 is installed, wherein provided on the outer end of each carrier element 7 is a blade attachment section 5, on which the strip-type blade is detachably attached so as to be radially spaced from the carrier shaft 2.