Device and method for cutting food products

A device for cutting food products for a slicer, comprising

• a product feed which includes a plurality of conveying devices arranged generally parallel next to one another, each having a conveying speed for simultaneously feeding a plurality of food products to a cutting plane, a respective one of the plurality of conveying devices being associated with each of the plurality of food products,
• at least one cutting blade configured for moving in the cutting plane,
• a common drive for the plurality of conveying devices, and
• respective transmission units for each of the plurality conveying devices, each transmission unit having a variable transmission ratio, the transmission ratios being variable to individually vary each of the conveying speeds of the plurality of conveying devices.

A method for cutting food products to form at least one product slice of each food product, the method comprising the steps of:

• simultaneously supplying a plurality of food products to a cutting plane in which at least one cutting blade moves by a product feed, which includes a plurality of conveying devices arranged next to one another,
• driving all the plurality of conveying devices by a common drive via respective transmission units which are each connected between the common drive and an associated one of the plurality of conveying devices;
• and
• individually varying a transmission ratio of each of the transmission units as required for each of the plurality of conveying devices to individually set a thickness of the at least one product slice to be cut off for each food product.