Patent ID: 7581474

Claim:
An apparatus for slicing food products ( 11 ) such as sausage, cheese, ham and the like, comprising: a product supply device ( 13 ), which supplies a product ( 11 ) to be sliced to a cutting plane ( 15 ) in which a cutting knife moves; a support table ( 17 ) onto which the product slices cut off by means of the cutting plane fall, wherein the support table ( 17 ) is provided with a controllable motor drive ( 19 , 21 ), which displaces the support table ( 17 ) relative to the falling product slices to form portions of any desired shape from a plurality of product slices; and a formatting device is provided with a display device ( 23 ) on which product slices ( 25 ) can be realistically presented and which has a formatting function by means of which a user ( 27 ) can prepare any desired formats ( 29 ) from a plurality of product slices ( 25 ) on the display device ( 23 ) by moving virtual product slices, wherein the formatting device additionally has an evaluation device ( 31 ) which converts the positions of the product slices ( 25 ) forming a prepared format ( 29 ) on the display device ( 23 ) into control commands for the motor drive ( 19 , 21 ) on the basis of which the motor drive ( 19 , 21 ) displaces the support table ( 17 ) in dependence on the cutting speed such that portions are formed on the support table ( 17 ) in accordance with the format ( 29 ) prepared on the display device ( 23 ).