A cutting machine includes a cutting device and a co-operating conveyor device for conveying food products in a conveying direction. The conveyor device includes at least one conveyor unit having a conveyor belt which is guided by at least one deflection roll and which comes into contact with the food products in the contact area and having at least one guide means for guiding the conveyor belt. The at least one guide means has a first support portion for supporting the conveyor belt at a first height and a second support portion for supporting it at a second height, these heights being spaced apart in a direction extending perpendicularly to the conveying direction, and at least one recess arranged between the first height and the second height, in which the conveyor belt can give way at least partly due to contact with a food product.

A portioning device is provided for forming portions from elongate casings stuffed with food mass, in particular for forming sausages from alginate casings stuffed with sausage meat. The portioning device includes two circulating conveyor members spaced apart from one another and drivable by at least one drive element, and at least one crimping member arranged on each conveyor member and projecting laterally from the conveyor member. It is proposed that at least one of the crimping members has such a shape, on its functional area that in the conveying area at least partially faces an opposite crimping member, that corrugations, creases and/or folds extending substantially parallel to the conveying direction, in particular, are formed in the constricted portion of the casing, thereby producing a desirable shape for the portions separated.

A low profile water bath co-extrusion process for sausage manufacturing is disclosed, along with machines for accomplishing this process. The process is an automated assembly line which begins with co-extruded food product, such as a sausage emulsion coated with collagen and finishes with cooked, boxed, packaged link sausage. The process includes the steps of co-extrusion, linking and cutting the co-extruded food product to individual links. Following these steps and prior to a liquid smoking step, the casing is prepared by steps which includes chemical treatment of the individual links in a water bath, while dehydrating the product in a salt solution, the water bath being a two-part process and following the water bath using a forced hot air drying step. Machines disclosed include a modification of prior art screw driven water bath and a novel roller/conveyor forced hot air drying assembly that subjects individual links of a co-extruded food product to a rolling motion while simultaneously being transported horizontally and being subject to forced hot air drying.

Portioning devices and methods for portioning and conveying elongate casings stuffed with a mass. Circulating conveyor belts are arranged adjacent to each other for conveying the stuffed casings. Each conveyor belt has a conveying area which in operation is moved in a conveying direction, and a return area, wherein the stuffed casing is introduced between the conveying areas of the two conveyor belts and can then be conveyed in the conveying direction. At least one divider is arranged on each conveyor belt and projects laterally from the conveyor belt. The dividers of the adjacent conveyor belts cooperate in the conveying areas in such a way that the stuffed casing is constricted. The divider has a constriction portion for engaging with the stuffed casing and which extends, in operation, substantially at a slant relative to a plane defined as perpendicular to the conveying direction.

An ejector device is provided for food portions, and in particular for sausages. A food portion in a conveying area between two conveyor belts is engaged in a conveying mode and can be conveyed in the conveying direction. It is proposed that the ejector device has at least one adjustment mechanism for ejecting a food portion in an ejection area, which is so designed that the distance of the conveyor belts from each other in the conveying area can be partially varied. A method of ejecting food portions is also provided, in which it is proposed that the food portions be taken out of engagement with the conveyor belts as described above.

The proposed invention includes an extruder apparatus (1) for a minced meat product with a distribution chamber (10) provided with an inlet opening (11) and with multiple outlet openings (12) of identical section, each one in communication with an extruder head (50) through a distribution duct (40) to produce the extrusion on a conveyor surface (2) movable through an air treatment unit (60), wherein each extruder head is connected to one of the distribution ducts and comprises a cutting device including a plunger inserted in the extruder head movable from an extruding position, in which the plunger does not interfere with the connection with the distribution duct, to a cutting position in which the plunger completely blocks said connection and in which the plunger reaches or goes beyond an extruding opening of the duct to eject all of the extruded meat product from the interior of the duct.

The present invention relates to a transportation system for transporting products in a transportation direction. The transportation system comprises a conveyor unit for transporting the products in the transportation direction from a first end of the conveyor unit towards a second end of the conveyor unit, and a drive unit for driving the conveyor unit. The drive unit comprises a drive means and a first magnetic clutch component for transmitting torque to the conveyor unit. The conveyor unit comprises a second magnetic clutch component for receiving torque from the drive unit. The transportation system further comprises supporting means which includes first and second supporting elements with the first supporting elements arranged at the drive unit and the second support elements arranged at the conveyor unit, for supporting the conveyor unit such that at least the first magnetic clutch component and the second magnetic clutch component are aligned to each other, and for supporting torque transmitted from the drive unit to the conveyor unit. The present invention further relates to a drive unit as well as a conveyor unit, both adapted for use in a transportation system.

An interchangeable hook-and-bracket system for a manufacturing process is disclosed. The interchangeable hook-and-bracket system may be configured to cooperate with a vertical conveying system of a food-processing system. Interchangeable hooks of the conveyor system may comprise hook portions and bracket portions that may be configured to releasably attach to one another. The bracket portions may be made substantially of a structurally robust material such as a metal and may be non-releasably attached to the conveyor system, and the hook portions may be made substantially of a flexible material such as a polymer-based material. More than one hook portion may correspond to a bracket portion, each hook portion having a configuration corresponding to a particular product, casing, throughput, and/or process condition.

Process and an apparatus adapted to carry out the process steps for producing sausage products, which includes the following steps: Comminuting raw meat with fat, adding seasoning, salt and further additives, mixing in order to produce a raw sausage mass, filling the raw sausage mass into sausage casings or boxes to form encased sausage, first warming and fermenting the formed encased sausage, second warming the encased sausage mass to a temperature of approximately 42° C., immediately subsequently cooling the cooked fermented sausage mass to −1° C. or below with vacuum being applied, and cutting of the dried and cooled encased sausage to obtain a cut and cooled sausage product.

The present invention relates to a clipping machine and a method for operating a clipping machine for producing sausage-shaped products, like sausages, by filling a flowable filling material into a tubular or bag-shaped packaging casing and closing said packaging casing by at least one closure clip. The clipping machine comprises a filling tube for feeding the filling material in a feeding direction into the tubular or bag-shaped packaging casing stored on the filling tube and being closed at its front end, a gathering device for gathering the filled packaging casing and for forming a gathered portion thereto, wherein the gathering device includes a first displacer unit and a second displacer unit, and wherein the second displacer unit is reversibly movable in the feeding direction for forming a filling material free plait-like portion at the gathered portion of the filled packaging casing, a clipping device having at least a first and a second closing tool being reversibly movable between an opened position and a closed position, for applying at least one closure clip to the plait-like portion and closing said closure clip when the closing tools are in their closed position, and a discharge device for discharging a sausage-shaped product just produced from the clipping machine in a transportation direction, wherein the position of the discharge device along the transportation direction and relative to components located upstream the discharge device can be adjusted. The clipping machine further comprises a sensor device for detecting the position of the discharge device relative to components of the clipping machine located upstream the discharge device.