A shuttle system for filling packages with food products, comprising: a) a main conveyor moving the food products in a longitudinal direction; b) a filling station; c) a supply of open top containers displaced along the longitudinal direction and movable in the longitudinal direction into the filling station; and d) an electronic sensor configured to capture location data about one or more food products on the main conveying surface of the main conveyor within a sensor range of the sensor; e) a shuttle robot comprising a gripper for holding the food products and having a working area encompassing at least between a portion of the main conveyor and a portion of the filling station and configured to move food products from the main conveyor to an open top container in the filling station, f) wherein the shuttle robot is adapted to move one or more food products in the longitudinal direction from the main conveyor to a destination position off the main conveyor for packaging the food products into the open top containers; g) a controller signal-connected to the electronic sensor and the shuttle robot and configured to receive data captured by the sensor and configured to instruct the shuttle robot to move one or more food products from the main conveyor to a destination position off the main conveyor; characterized in that h) a downstream portion of the main conveyor is a strip conveyor comprising a plurality of belts (330, 332, 334, 336), each belt (330, 332, 334, 336) is separated from adjacent belts by a gap (331, 333, 335); the gaps (331, 333, 335) having a width at least as wide as a gripper arm of the gripper so as to allow a portion of the gripper arms (161a-f, 162a-f) to pass between the belts (330, 332, 334, 336) of the main conveyor and below a conveying surface of the main conveyor, and i) the gripper comprises at least two oppositely facing gripper arms (161a-f, 162a-f); j) the gripper comprises an open position for releasing a food product, and a closed position for holding and transporting a food product; k) the gripper arms (161a-f, 162a-f) are further from one another when the gripper is in the open position than when in the closed position. a) a main conveyor moving the food products in a longitudinal direction; b) a filling station; c) a supply of open top containers displaced along the longitudinal direction and movable in the longitudinal direction into the filling station; and d) an electronic sensor configured to capture location data about one or more food products on the main conveying surface of the main conveyor within a sensor range of the sensor; e) a shuttle robot comprising a gripper for holding the food products and having a working area encompassing at least between a portion of the main conveyor and a portion of the filling station and configured to move food products from the main conveyor to an open top container in the filling station, f) wherein the shuttle robot is adapted to move one or more food products in the longitudinal direction from the main conveyor to a destination position off the main conveyor for packaging the food products into the open top containers; g) a controller signal-connected to the electronic sensor and the shuttle robot and configured to receive data captured by the sensor and configured to instruct the shuttle robot to move one or more food products from the main conveyor to a destination position off the main conveyor; characterized in that h) a downstream portion of the main conveyor is a strip conveyor comprising a plurality of belts (330, 332, 334, 336), each belt (330, 332, 334, 336) is separated from adjacent belts by a gap (331, 333, 335); the gaps (331, 333, 335) having a width at least as wide as a gripper arm of the gripper so as to allow a portion of the gripper arms (161a-f, 162a-f) to pass between the belts (330, 332, 334, 336) of the main conveyor and below a conveying surface of the main conveyor, and i) the gripper comprises at least two oppositely facing gripper arms (161a-f, 162a-f); j) the gripper comprises an open position for releasing a food product, and a closed position for holding and transporting a food product; k) the gripper arms (161a-f, 162a-f) are further from one another when the gripper is in the open position than when in the closed position.