Method for cutting a loaf-shaped food and cutting machine

Abstract

In a method for cutting a loaf-shaped food, a loaf of the food is advanced toward a cutting device by means of a feed apparatus and the loaf is cut into slices, strips or cubes by means of said cutting device such that the loaf is fixed during the feed movement by means of a vacuum gripper that is advanced together with the loaf and a negative pressure is generated within an interior of a contact element of the vacuum gripper and acts upon a fixing region of the surface of the loaf in a suction region of the contact element; in order to avoid the risk of defects due to a vacuum loss and a loss of the fixing force, it is proposed that the suction region is divided into at least two separate partial suction regions and the interior of the contact element is accordingly divided into at least two partial interiors, wherein the partial suction regions respectively adjoin one another, are separated from by a contact line and form separate partial fixing regions.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.