Patent ID: 7000518

Claim:
An apparatus for cutting food product in a substantially horizontal plane, the apparatus comprising: cutting means oriented to make a substantially horizontal cut through a food product being delivered to the cutting means in a substantially vertical direction; a housing above the cutting means and defining a passage with an opening in proximity to the cutting means for delivering the food product to the cutting means in a substantially vertical direction, the housing having an upper portion and a lower portion immediately below the upper portion, the upper portion having a first wall region with a radius of curvature in a horizontal plane, the lower portion having a lower extremity that defines the opening of the passage, the lower portion having a flared region along at least a circumferential portion thereof that is axially aligned with the first wall region, the flared region having a radius of curvature in a horizontal plane that increases in a direction away from the upper portion so that at least a portion of the opening of the passage is defined by the flared region and has a larger radius of curvature than the first wall region of the upper portion; and means for applying a force on the food product traveling downward through the passage, the force-applying means applying the force across the passage so as to urge the food product toward and into contact with the flared region of the lower portion as the cutting means is making a substantially horizontal cut through the food product.