An apparatus for
slicing food products, in particular a high-performance slicer, comprises a product feed which defines a feed plane and by means of which the products are fed along the feed plane in a feed direction to a
cutting plane which is disposed in a
slicing region and in which a
cutting blade moves, in particular in a rotating and / or revolving manner, said
cutting blade cooperating with a cutting edge which in particular extends in parallel with the feed plane and perpendicular to the feed direction to
cut off slices from the products. The cutting apparatus additionally comprises a detection device for
radiation reflected from the
slicing region and an evaluation device for evaluating the detected
radiation and an illumination device for illuminating the slicing region which is arranged for the at least substantially frontal illumination of the product end face in the half-space disposed in front of the slicing region and above the feed plane and comprises at least one
radiation source ad well as a diaphragm arrangement associated therewith which defines a plurality of elongate illumination radiation paths which are optically separate from one another, which each extend in the direction of the slicing region and which are arranged adjacent to one another.