FOOD PROCESSING PLANT

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a food processing plant for processing food products, in particular for slicing pieces of meat, pieces of cheese, sausage sticks or salami sticks into slices.

[0002] Food processing plants of this type are known from the prior art, which initially have a cutting device, which is also referred to as a "slicer" according to the usual technical terminology and cuts the food products (e.g. pieces of meat, pieces of cheese, sausage sticks or salami sticks) into slices, whereby one or more of the cut slices then form a food portion.

[0003] Furthermore, the known food processing plants feature complicated conveyor systems that take the food portions from the cutting device and transport them to a packaging machine (e.g., thermoforming device).

[0004] The conveyor system between the cutting unit and the packaging machine performs several functions, which are briefly described below. For example, the conveyor system can use a buffer conveyor to hold the food portions delivered by the cutting unit in a buffer zone, ensuring that a sufficient quantity of food portions is always available behind the buffer zone. Furthermore, the conveyor system can align the food portions laterally, perpendicular to the main conveying path, using shuttle conveyors, which are movable across the main conveying path. Additionally, the food portions can be reoriented, for example, by rotating them.Finally, product formatting is also possible, for example by converting a specific number of incoming conveyor lanes into a specific number of outgoing conveyor lanes. In this way, for instance, a three-lane cutting unit can feed a two-lane packaging machine.

[0005] In known food processing plants, the functions briefly described above are achieved through a complex arrangement of conveyor belts, making these plants relatively complicated. Therefore, in the prior art, belt conveyors belonging to the group of continuous conveyors, which are relatively complex, are used to fulfill the various functions (buffering, aligning, reorienting, product formatting).

[0006] For the technical background of the invention, reference should also be made to DE 10 2014 118 965 A1, WO 2015 / 162182 A1, EP 3 028 774 A1, WO 2018 / 019810 A1, WO 2016 / 071062 A1, US 2004 / 231480 A1, US 2020 / 254641 A1 and the product catalog "Flying Motion: XPlanar" of Beckhoff Automation GmbH & Co. KG.

[0007] Finally, DE 10 2014 116 232 A1 discloses a food processing plant according to the preamble of claim 1. However, this known food processing plant is not yet fully satisfactory.

[0008] The invention is therefore based on the objective of improving the known food processing plants described above.

[0009] This problem is solved by a food processing plant according to the invention and the main claim.

[0010] The food processing plant according to the invention initially comprises, in accordance with the prior art, a cutting device ("slicer") for slicing food products into portions, which then form food portions. The food products can be, for example, pieces of meat, pieces of cheese, sausage sticks, or salami sticks, as is also the case in the prior art. Furthermore, it should be noted that the food portions formed from the sliced ​​portions each comprise one or more of the sliced ​​portions. Thus, a food portion can be a stack of slices comprising several slices stacked on top of each other. Furthermore, within the scope of the invention, it is possible that the individual food portions are each shingles consisting of several stacked slices that are laterally offset from one another.

[0011] However, the invention is not limited to the portion shapes described above, but can also be implemented with other portion shapes (e.g. "shaved meat", rounded, etc.).

[0012] Furthermore, the food processing plant according to the invention also includes a conveyor system that transports the food portions away from the cutting device along a main conveyor path. This conveyor system also fulfills several of the functions already briefly described above (buffering, aligning, orienting, product formatting). In contrast to the prior art described at the outset, however, the conveyor system fulfills these technical functions by means of a discontinuous conveyor, which has at least one conveying carrier ("mover") that is movable along the main conveyor path, the main conveyor path being freely programmable within a conveying area.The term "discontinuous conveyor" used in the context of the invention distinguishes it, according to standard technical terminology, from continuous conveyors, such as conveyor belts, which are used in the known food processing plants described above according to the prior art. The food processing plant according to the invention thus differs from the prior art primarily in the type of conveyor system (discontinuous conveyor instead of a continuous conveyor).

[0013] The discontinuous conveyor can, for example, be a planar motor drive system, such as the one marketed by the German company Beckhoff Automation GmbH under the product name "XPlanar". The discontinuous conveyor preferably features a magnetic levitation system, allowing the individual carriers to float contactlessly above the conveying surface. The conveying path of each carrier is individually programmable. The movement of the individual carriers is therefore preferably not bound to a fixed conveying path. Furthermore, the discontinuous conveyor preferably comprises numerous modules, each preferably rectangular, which can therefore be optionally assembled to form a continuous conveying surface. This modular design of the discontinuous conveyor allows for great flexibility regarding the shape of the conveying surface.

[0014] Regarding the design and function of the individual conveying carriers, reference is made to German patent application DE 10 2020 105 678.8, the content of which is fully incorporated into the present description. It should merely be mentioned here that the individual conveying carriers preferably have elongated parallel recesses in their loading surface into which finger conveyors can dip to grip and convey the food portions lying on the carrier, as will be described in detail below. For this purpose, the conveying carrier can have a plurality of pins on its upper surface, which project parallel upwards and whose free end faces form the loading surface for receiving the food portions.The pins are preferably arranged in a matrix-like manner in rows and columns, with the spaces between the rows and also the spaces between the columns forming the elongated depressions into which the finger conveyors can immerse to convey the food portions.

[0015] According to the invention, the food processing plant additionally includes an inspection station to check the food portions conveyed by the conveyor system for compliance with specified product specifications and to identify defective portions that do not meet these specifications. Furthermore, a rejection station is provided to remove the defective portions from the main conveying path, preventing them from reaching the packaging machine and being delivered to customers without authorization. For example, the inspection station can weigh the food portions and compare their weight to a predetermined target weight to identify defective portions. Additionally, the inspection station can also optically examine the food portions using a sensor (e.g., a camera) to detect defects or defective portions.The defects can include, for example, deviations in weight, volume, shape, or quality, to name just a few.

[0016] Furthermore, the food processing plant can also include a correction zone where defective portions can be corrected. Defective portions are first diverted from the reject station to the correction zone, where they can be corrected. For example, if a food portion contains too few slices, it can be completed in the correction zone with the appropriate number of missing slices. This correction of defective portions can be performed either manually or automatically. After the correction of a defective portion, it can then be returned from the reject station to the main conveying path. The reject station can be formed by the discontinuous conveyor, as the conveying path within the conveying area can be freely programmed.The discontinuous conveyor can therefore either transport the defective portions along the main conveying path towards the packaging machine or, in the case of a defective portion, convey them to the correction station.

[0017] Furthermore, the conveying system according to the invention can also include a disposal station for disposing of unusable product residues. For example, during a cutting process, initial and end pieces are typically produced that are not usable. These unusable product pieces can then initially be placed on a conveyor carrier, which transports them to the disposal station for disposal.

[0018] At the disposal station, the unusable product pieces (e.g., beginning and end pieces) are removed from the conveying carrier. For example, a gripper can be used to grasp the beginning or end piece on the carrier and then transport it away robotically. Alternatively, a suction device can be used to pick up the unusable beginning or end piece and then remove it. Another way to remove the unusable product pieces from the conveying carrier is with a pusher that slides them off. Alternatively, the entire conveying carrier can be tilted by a tipping device, causing the unusable product pieces to slide off.Furthermore, a blowing device can be provided to blow the unusable product pieces off the conveying carrier. Finally, it is also possible that the unusable product pieces are removed from the conveying carrier by abruptly accelerating or decelerating it.

[0019] As mentioned above, one technical function of the conveyor system is to orient the food portions according to a desired orientation. For this purpose, the food portions, along with the conveying carrier, can be rotated around a rotational axis, preferably perpendicular to the conveying surface. To assist with this orientation, the conveyor system can include a camera to detect the orientation of the food portions on the carriers. The individual carriers are then preferably rotated before the product is deposited by the cutting device, in order to achieve the desired orientation of the food portions on the individual carriers at the output.If the cutting unit deposits the individual food portions, for example, with a 10° misorientation relative to the main conveying path, the individual carriers are preferably rotated by this angle when the food portions are transferred from the cutting unit. After a food portion has been transferred from the cutting unit, the carrier can then be aligned parallel to the main conveying path again, thus restoring the desired orientation. This reorientation of the carriers and the food portions on them can be performed by the discontinuous conveyor, so no additional components are required. For example, the carriers with the food portions on them can also be rotated by 90° or 180° to achieve the desired orientation of the food portions, and this rotation can be performed even without camera monitoring.

[0020] Furthermore, the invention allows the discontinuous conveyor to also participate in the production of overlapping food portions. For this purpose, a belt conveyor is arranged above the conveying surface of the discontinuous conveyor, which is fed with food portions by the conveying carriers. Another conveying carrier is then moved under the belt conveyor, carrying a food portion. Subsequently, the food portions on the belt conveyor and on the conveying carrier below the belt conveyor are moved in the outbound direction, with the belt conveyor then depositing its food portion onto the food portion on the conveying carrier below the belt conveyor, with a predetermined overlap.

[0021] Furthermore, the invention also provides for the possibility that the conveying system includes a transfer device for transferring slices of food portions between different conveying carriers. For example, this transfer device can include a belt conveyor with several finger conveyors or knife conveyors at the inlet side, which can penetrate the elongated recesses of a conveying carrier to grip and convey the food portions located there. This allows for the completion of incomplete food portions. If, for example, the number of slices cut during a slicing process was insufficient to produce a complete food portion with the desired number of slices, the missing slices can be added from another conveying carrier.

[0022] Furthermore, it should be noted that the food processing plant according to the invention can have a certain number of cutting devices and a certain number of packaging machines, which need not be the same. For example, one cutting device can feed several packaging machines. The discontinuous conveyor enables the product flows to be divided or combined accordingly.

[0023] Other advantageous embodiments of the invention are characterized in the dependent claims or are explained in more detail below together with the description of the preferred embodiments of the invention with reference to the figures. Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of a food processing plant according to the invention. Figure 2 shows a side view of a conveyor belt from the food processing plant Figure 1 . Figure 3 shows a supervision of the conveyed material carrier according to Figure 2 . Figure 4 shows a side view of a receiving conveyor for removing food portions from the individual conveying carriers. Figure 5 shows a side view of a dispensing conveyor for distributing food portions onto the individual conveying carriers. Figure 6 shows a schematic representation of the reorientation of food portions on the conveying carriers. Figure 7A shows a schematic top view of a food processing plant according to the invention which also allows the overlapping of food portions. Figure 7B shows a side view of the food processing plant according to Figure 7A . Figures 8A-8F show various steps of the operating method according to the invention for overlapping food portions. Figure 9 Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of a food processing plant according to the invention, in which a cutting device feeds two packaging machines. Figure 10shows a schematic representation of the transfer of disks between different conveying carriers.

[0024] The following describes an exemplary embodiment of a food processing plant according to the invention. Figure 1 described.

[0025] The food processing plant initially comprises a cutting device 1, which, according to standard technical terminology, is also referred to as a "slicer" and slices food products (e.g., pieces of cheese, pieces of meat, salami sticks, etc.). In the illustrated embodiment, the cutting device operates in three lanes, meaning the food products are sliced ​​in three parallel lanes.

[0026] Furthermore, the food processing plant features a discharge conveyor 2 that receives the slices cut by the cutting unit 1 and places them onto conveyor carriers 3 ("mover") of a planar motor drive system 4. The planar motor drive system 4 is the "XPlanar" planar motor drive system, distributed by the German company Beckhoff Automation GmbH. It should be noted that the conveyor carriers 3 can move freely within a horizontal conveying area without being bound to a fixed conveying path. The conveying area is composed of numerous rectangular modules 5, and this modular design of the planar motor drive system 4 allows for great flexibility regarding the shape of the conveying area.

[0027] The delivery conveyor 2 places a food portion 6 on each of the conveying carriers 3, wherein the food portions 6 in the illustrated embodiment are each shingles made of several discs that are offset from one another.

[0028] The conveying area of ​​the planar motor drive system 4 is spanned by an inspection station 7, which contains several cameras to inspect the food portions 6 on the conveying carriers 3. For example, the cameras in inspection station 7 can detect the number of slices in each food portion 6 and thus identify defective portions with an insufficient number of slices. Furthermore, the cameras in inspection station 7 can also detect other defects (e.g., fat globules) in the food portions 6.

[0029] In test station 7, the weight of the conveying carriers 3 with the food portions 6 on them can also be measured. During operation, the conveying carriers 3 with the food portions 6 on them float above the conveying surface of the planar motor drive system 4 at a specific distance that depends on the weight of the conveying carrier 3 with the food portions 6 on it. The width of the air gap between the conveying carrier 3 and the conveying surface of the planar motor drive system 4 thus provides a measure of the weight of the food portions 6 on the conveying carrier 3. Therefore, in test station 7, the width of the air gap between the conveying carrier 3 and the conveying surface of the planar motor drive system 4 can also be measured as a measure of the weight of the loaded conveying carrier 3.Alternatively, the width of the air gap between the conveying carrier 3 and the conveying surface of the planar motor drive system 4 can be kept constant by adjusting the power of the planar motor drive system 4 accordingly, with the power of the planar motor drive system 4 then serving as a measure of the weight of the loaded conveying carrier.

[0030] Alternatively, the weight of the conveying material carriers 3 can also be measured in a separate weighing station located between the conveying system and the cutting device ("slicer").

[0031] Inspection station 7 determines the weight of the food portions 6 on the conveyor carriers 3 and also visually inspects the food portions 6 using cameras. Inspection station 7 then sends a corresponding signal to a higher-level control unit 8, which also controls the cutting unit 1 and the discharge conveyor 2. If inspection station 7 determines that food portion 6 is defective, the control unit 8 activates the planar motor drive system 4 so that the conveyor carrier 3 containing the food portion 6 is diverted to a correction station 9. At correction station 9, the defective portion can then be corrected, for example, by adding a missing slice. The planar motor drive system 4 can then return the corrected defective portion to the main conveyor.

[0032] If, on the other hand, the inspection in the inspection station 7 reveals that there is a non-recyclable beginning or end piece on one of the conveying carriers 3, the associated conveying carrier 3 is transported by the planar motor drive system 4 to a disposal station 10, where the non-recyclable beginning or end pieces are then removed from the conveying carrier 3 and disposed of.

[0033] The conveying carriers 3 with the food portions 6 on them are then transported by the planar motor drive system 4 to a take-off conveyor 11, which takes the food portions 6 from the respective conveying carrier 3 and transports them in two parallel tracks to a packaging machine 12.

[0034] Packaging machine 1 operates in two lanes, while cutting unit 1 operates in three lanes. The planar motor drive system 4 therefore also enables lane conversion from three input lanes to two output lanes.

[0035] Furthermore, it should be noted that the control unit 8 not only controls the cutting unit 1, the planar motor drive system 4, and the discharge conveyor 2, but is also connected to the inspection station 7, the correction station 9, the disposal station 10, the take-off conveyor 11, and the packaging machine 12. It should be noted that, for the sake of simplicity, the control unit 8 is depicted as a single component. In reality, however, the control unit 8 can also be implemented as a distributed system with multiple controllers, where the control can be implemented partly in hardware and partly in software.

[0036] Finally, it should be mentioned that the planar motor drive system 4 can also have a return track to transport empty conveyor carriers 3 back to the discharge conveyor 2. However, the return track is not shown in the drawing for the sake of simplicity.

[0037] The Figures 2 and 3Figure 1 shows various views of one of the conveying carriers 3 on the planar motor drive system 4. The structure and function of the conveying carrier 3 are also described in German patent application DE 10 2020 105 678.8, the content of which is fully incorporated into the present description. It should merely be mentioned here that the conveying carrier 3 has numerous pins 13 on its upper surface, which project upwards in parallel and are arranged in a matrix in rows and columns. The adjacent rows and columns each contain elongated recesses 14, 15, which facilitate the conveying of the food portions 6 from the conveying carrier 3, as will be described in detail below. Figure 4A side view of one of the discharge conveyors 11, which can be pivoted about a pivot axis 16. The individual discharge conveyor 11 consists of several adjacent and relatively narrow finger conveyors that can dip into the elongated recesses 14 or 15 on the top of the conveying carrier 3 in order to grip the food portions 6 on the conveying carrier 3 and convey them away.

[0038] Figure 5 In contrast, the figure shows a schematic representation of the dispensing conveyor 2, which places the food portions 6 onto the individual conveying carriers 3.

[0039] Figure 6 Figure 4 shows a schematic representation to illustrate the orientation function of the planar motor drive system 4. The planar motor drive system 4 can rotate the conveying carrier 3 around its vertical axis so that the food portions 6 on the conveying carrier 3 have a predetermined orientation. Figure 6Figure 1 shows the conveyor carrier 3 during the product placement of the food portions 6 from the cutting device 1. The food portions 6 are initially placed on the conveyor carrier 3 with a misalignment angle α relative to the main conveyor, which is detected by a camera 17. Therefore, the conveyor carrier 3 is rotated accordingly before the food portion 6 is placed on it. After the food portion 6 is placed on the conveyor carrier 3, the carrier 3 is rotated again, as shown by the dashed lines in the drawing, so that the food portion 6 is correctly aligned despite the initial misalignment.

[0040] The Figures 7A and 7BFigure 1 shows various views of an alternative embodiment of a food processing plant according to the invention, which also allows the overlapping of food portions 18, 19. Here, the food portions 18, 19 are conveyed on conveyor carriers 20, 21 in two parallel conveyor tracks 22, 23.

[0041] In the right-hand conveyor lane 22, a belt conveyor 24 is arranged, consisting of a receiving conveyor 25, an intermediate conveyor 26, and a discharge conveyor 27. The receiving conveyor 25 takes the food portions 18 from the conveying carrier 20 and then transfers them to the intermediate conveyor 26 and the discharge conveyor 27. The discharge conveyor 27 then places the food portions 18 onto the food portion 19 on the other conveying carrier 21.

[0042] The Figures 8A-8F They now demonstrate the overlapping process in several successive stages.

[0043] At that stage according to Figure 8A The two conveying carriers 20, 21 with the two food portions 18, 19 are conveyed in the two conveying tracks 22, 23.

[0044] At that stage according to Figure 8B Food portion 18 has been removed from the conveying carrier 22 and transferred to the receiving conveyor 25. In this stage, the conveying carrier 21, carrying food portion 19, continues moving alongside the belt conveyor 24.

[0045] At that stage according to Figure 8C The food portion 18 has then reached the intermediate conveyor 26 and the other conveying carrier 21 is located to the side of it.

[0046] At that stage according to Figure 8D The conveying carrier 21 with the food portion 19 is then located below the conveyor 26.

[0047] At that stage according to Figure 8EThe two food portions 18, 19 are then located one above the other on the dispensing conveyor 27 on the one hand and below them on the conveying carrier 21 on the other.

[0048] In Figure 8F The figure then shows that the delivery conveyor 27 has deposited the food portion 18 onto the conveying carrier 21 on top of the food portion 19, with the two food portions 18, 19 overlapping.

[0049] The arrangement shown thus allows the food portions 18, 19 to be arranged overlappingly.

[0050] Figure 9 Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of a food processing plant according to the invention with a press 28 which first presses the food products, which can be useful for example in the case of frozen products and is known in the prior art.

[0051] The press 28 then delivers the pressed food products to a cutting device 29 ("slicer"), which operates in a single lane.

[0052] The cutting device 29 then transfers the food portions from several slices to a planar motor drive system 30, as described above, wherein the planar motor drive system 30 moves conveying carriers with the individual food portions.

[0053] On the output side, the planar motor drive system 30 then feeds two packaging machines 31, 32. The planar motor drive system 30 thus enables the feeding of two packaging machines 31, 32 by only a single cutting device 29.

[0054] Figure 10Figure 1 shows a schematic representation of the transfer of individual discs 33 between two food portions 34, 35, which are located on two conveying carriers 36, 37. In the illustrated embodiment, the food portion 35 on the conveying carrier 37 is incomplete, which is why the disc 33 is removed from the food portion 34 and placed on the food portion 35 to complete it. A conveyor 38 is provided for transferring the disc 33 between the two conveying carriers 36, 37. This conveyor has several narrow finger conveyors at its inlet side, which can engage in the elongated recesses between the adjacent pins to grip the food portion 34, as described above. The drawing is only schematic, intended to illustrate the principle of transferring the discs 33 between the conveying carriers 36, 37.Furthermore, it should be mentioned that the conveying carriers 35, 36 can be moved freely on a planar motor drive system 39 within a horizontal conveying area 40. Reference symbol list:

[0055] 1 Cutting device ("slicer") 2 Discharge conveyor 3 Conveyor carrier 4 Planar motor drive system for driving the conveyor carrier 5 Modules of the planar motor drive system 6 Food portion on the conveyor carrier 7 Inspection station with cameras for checking the food portions 8 Control unit 9 Correction station 10 Disposal station 11 Pick-up conveyor 12 Packaging machine 13 Pins on the top of the conveyor carrier 14, 15 Elongated recesses between the pins 16 Swivel axis of the pick-up conveyor 17 Camera 18, 19 Food portions 20, 21 Conveyor carrier 22, 23 Conveyor tracks 24 Belt conveyor 25 Pick-up conveyor 26 Intermediate conveyor 27 Discharge conveyor 28 Press 29 Cutting device ("slicer") 30 Planar motor drive system for driving the conveyor carriers 31, 32 Packaging machines 33 Disc 34, 35 Food portions 36, 37 Conveyor carrier 38 Transfer conveyor 39 Planar motor drive system 40 Conveyor surface of the planar motor drive system

Claims

1. Food-processing system for processing food products, in particular for slicing pieces of meat, pieces of cheese, sausage sticks or salami sticks into slices (33), comprising a) a cutting device (1; 29) for cutting the food products into slices (33) to form food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) each consisting of one or more slices (33), and b) a conveyor system (4; 30; 39) for conveying the food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) away from the cutting device (1; 29) along a main conveying path, wherein the conveyor system (4; 30; 39) performs several of the following functions in the food-processing system: b1) buffering the food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) delivered from the cutting device (1; 29) in a buffer zone on the conveyor system (4; 30; 39) prior to further transport of the food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) along the main conveyor path, b2) aligning of the food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) in lateral direction transversely to the main conveying path by a displacement of the food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) in lateral direction transversely to the main conveying path, b3) orientation of the food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) relative to the main conveying path by a rotation of the food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) relative to the main conveying path, b4) product formatting from an incoming product format with a predetermined number of parallel conveyor tracks into an outgoing product format with a predetermined number of parallel conveyor tracks, wherein the number of incoming conveyor tracks is different from the number of outgoing conveyor tracks, b5) wherein the conveyor system (4; 30; 39) fulfills said plurality of functions by means of a discontinuous conveyor (4; 30; 39), said discontinuous conveyor (4; 30; 39) comprising at least one conveyed-products carrier (3; 20, 21; 36, 37) movable along said main conveying path, said main conveying path being freely programmable within a conveying surface (40), characterized by c) a checking station (7) for checking the food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) conveyed by the conveyor system (4; 30; 39) for compliance with predetermined product specifications and for detecting faulty portions among the food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) that do not meet the predetermined product specifications, the checking station (7) optionally being arranged between the cutting device (1; 29) and the conveyor system (4; 30; 39), and d) an ejection station for ejecting the faulty portions from the main conveying path, e) wherein the checking station (7) e1) weighs the food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) and compares the weight of the food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) with a predetermined target weight to determine the faulty portions, and / or e2) checks the food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) by means of a sensor, in particular by means of a camera, in order to detect defects, and classifies the checked food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) as faulty portions as a function of the defects determined, the defects optionally being deviations in weight, deviations in volume, deviations in shape or deviations in quality.

2. Food-processing system according to claim 1, characterized in, a) that the ejection station discharges the faulty portions into a correction zone (9) in which the faulty portions can be corrected manually or automatically, and b) that the ejection station reintroduces the corrected faulty portions from the correction zone (9) into the main conveying path after they have been corrected in the correction zone (9).

3. Food-processing system according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in, a) that the cutting device (1; 29) produces, during a cutting operation of one of the food products, in each case an initial piece and an end piece, the initial piece and / or the end piece being non-recyclable and optionally consisting in each case of one or more slices (33), and b) that the conveying system (4; 30; 39) also takes over the initial piece and / or the end piece on one of the conveyed-products carriers (3; 20, 21; 36, 37) from the cutting device (1; 29), and c) that the conveyor system (4; 30; 39) comprises a discharge station (10) for removing the non-usable initial piece and / or the non-usable end piece from the conveyed-products carrier (3; 20, 21; 36, 37) and disposing of it.

4. Food-processing system according to claim 3, characterized in that the discharge station (10) for removing the non-usable initial piece and / or the non-usable end piece from the conveyed-products carrier (3; 20, 21; 36, 37) comprises: a) a gripper for gripping the initial piece and / or the end piece on the conveyed-products carrier (3; 20, 21; 36, 37), the gripper preferably being guided by a robot, or b) a suction device for sucking the initial piece and / or the end piece onto the conveyor support (3; 20, 21; 36, 37), the suction device preferably being guided by a robot, or c) a movably guided pusher for pushing the initial piece and / or the end piece down from the conveyed-products carrier (3; 20, 21; 36, 37), or d) a tilting device for tilting the conveyed-products carrier (3; 20, 21; 36, 37) with the initial piece and / or end piece located thereon and for tilting the initial piece and / or end piece down from the conveyed-products carrier (3; 20, 21; 36, 37), or e) a blowing device for blowing down the initial piece and / or the end piece from the conveyed-products carrier (3; 20, 21; 36, 37), or f) a device for jerkily accelerating and / or braking the conveyed-products carrier (3; 20, 21; 36, 37) so that the non-usable end pieces slide off the conveyed-products carrier (3; 20, 21; 36, 37), or g) a finger conveyor belt.

5. Food-processing system according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in a) that the conveyor system (4; 30; 39) comprises a rotating device for rotating the at least one conveyed-products carrier (3; 20, 21; 36, 37) about an axis of rotation at right angles to the conveying surface (40) in order to set a predetermined orientation of the food product portion (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) on the conveyed-products carrier (3; 20, 21; 36, 37), b) that the rotating device is optionally formed by the discontinuous conveyor (4; 30; 39), c) that the conveyor system (4; 30; 39) optionally comprises a sensor, in particular a camera (17), for detecting the orientation of the food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) on the conveyed-products carriers. d) that the conveyor system (4; 30; 39) optionally comprises a control device (8) which is connected on the input side to the camera (17) and on the output side to the rotating device and controls the rotating device as a function of the determined orientation of the food product portion (6; 18, 19; 34, 35), e) that the camera (17) is optionally arranged further downstream in the main conveying path than the rotating device, f) that the rotating device is optionally arranged directly on the cutting device (1; 29), so that the slices (33) cut off by the cutting device (1; 29) are deposited on the conveyed food product portion carrier (3; 20, 21; 36, 37), which is rotated by the rotating device into a desired orientation.

6. Food-processing system according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in a) that a belt conveyor (24) with a specific conveying direction is arranged above the conveying surface (40) of the discontinuous conveyor (4; 30; 39), b) that the discontinuous conveyor (4; 30; 39) delivers a first conveyed-products carrier (3; 20, 21; 36, 37) with a first food product portion (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) which is taken over by the belt conveyor (24), c) that the discontinuous conveyor (4; 30; 39) delivers a second conveyed-products carrier (3; 20, 21; 36, 37) with a second food product portion (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) and positions the second conveyed-products carrier (3; 20, 21; 36, 37) on the conveying surface (40) under the belt conveyor, d) that the discontinuous conveyor (4; 30; 39) moves the second conveyed-products carrier (3; 20, 21; 36, 37) out from under the belt conveyor (24) in the conveying direction of the belt conveyor (24), whereby the belt conveyor (24) deposits the first food product with an at least partial overlap on the second food product lying on the second conveyed-products carrier (3; 20, 21; 36, 37). e) that optionally a control device (8) controls the discontinuous conveyor (4; 30; 39) and the belt conveyor (24) for carrying out steps b) to d).

7. Food-processing system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in a) that the conveyor system (4; 30; 39) comprises a transfer device (38) for transferring slices (33) of the food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) between different conveyed-products carriers for assembling complete food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) from several incomplete food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35), b) that the transfer device (38) is optionally a belt conveyor.

8. Food-processing system according to any one of the preceding claims, characterized in, a) that the food-processing system comprises a certain number of cutting devices (1; 29), each supplying at least one conveying stream of the food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35), the number of cutting devices (1; 29) being greater than or equal to one, b) that the food-processing system comprises a certain number of packaging machines (12; 31, 32), each receiving a delivery stream of the food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) and packaging the food product portions (6; 18, 19; 34, 35) delivered in the delivery stream into packages, the number of packaging machines (12; 31, 32) being greater than or equal to one,9. Food-processing system according to claim 8, characterized in, a) that the number of the cutting devices (1; 29) is different from the number of the packaging machines (12; 31, 32), b) that the conveyor system (4; 30; 39) b1) divides the conveying streams arriving on the input side from the at least one cutting device (1; 29) into a plurality of conveying streams on the output side for feeding the individual packaging machines (12; 31, 32), or b2) combines the multiple conveying streams incoming on the input side from the multiple cutting devices (1; 29) into at least one conveying stream for feeding the at least one packaging machines (12; 31, 32).

10. Food-processing system according to claim 7 or 8, characterized in that the conveyor system (4; 30; 39) transfers loaded conveyed-products carriers (3; 20, 21; 36, 37) between the different conveyor streams.

11. Food-processing system according to one of the preceding claims, characterized in a) that the food-processing system comprises a control device (8) which controls the operation of the food-processing system, b) that the control device (8) is connected to at least one of the following components of the food-processing system for controlling the operation of the food-processing system: b1) the discontinuous conveyor (4; 30; 39) b2) the cutting device (1; 29), b3) the checking station (7), b4) the ejection station, b5) the discharge station (10), b6) the camera (17), b7) the transfer device (38), b8) the packaging machine (12; 31, 32), b9) the delivery conveyor (2), b10) the take-off conveyor (811). c) that the control device (8) includes a control computer and a program memory in which a control program is stored, the control program, when executed, causing the control computer to control the food-processing system in accordance with one of the preceding claims.