Patent ID: 7886645

Claim:
A system for cutting blocks of cheese or other food product into chunks, said system comprising: conveyors for conveying the blocks of the product in a conveying direction along a processing path in a plane for cutting the blocks; a trim cutting module for cutting trim from a block during a trim cutting operation, the trim cutting module including a mechanism for rotating the block end-over-end about an axis in the plane that extends perpendicular to the conveying direction away from a conveying position to a trimming position to allow trim cut from the block to drop to a trim disposal conveyance and for rotating the block back to the original conveying position, after trim has been cut from the block, to allow the block to continue to be conveyed along the processing path for further cutting operations; a block cutting system including a block cutter for making one or more longitudinal cuts in the block, as the block is moved in the conveying direction, to divide the width and/or depth of the block into a plurality of individual slabs; and a slab cutting system including a transverse cutter for cutting the individual slabs to create a plurality of chunks of the product.