Methods for cutting food product

A method of reducing the size of food product, the method comprising:

• rotating an impeller within a casing about an axis of the impeller, the impeller comprising a drum, paddles mounted to the drum, and pockets defined by and between adjacent pairs of the paddles, each of the paddles being associated with one of the pockets that is circumferentially ahead thereof in a direction of rotation of the impeller, the paddles being circumferentially spaced along a perimeter of the drum so that each pocket is sequentially radially aligned with a circumferential opening of the casing as the impeller rotates, each paddle having a relief slot defined in an outer radial edge of the paddle;
• introducing a food product into the impeller;
• pushing the food product with a planar surface of a first of the paddles associated with a first of the pockets;
• expelling the food product from the first pocket;
• cutting the food product with a knife disposed at the circumferential opening of the casing as the impeller rotates within the casing and the first pocket travels past the circumferential opening, the knife defining a cord of the casing and having a cutting edge located within an interior of the casing so that the knife extends into the path of the paddles;
• and
• passing the knife through the relief slots of the paddles as the impeller rotates and the pockets pass across the circumferential opening;
• wherein the planar surface of each paddle is approximately perpendicular to the cutting edge of the knife at the moment the paddle thereof has completed its pass across the circumferential opening of the casing.