Pivoting blade assembly for high-speed food slicing machine

A slicing assembly for a food slicing system, the slicing assembly comprising:

• a support frame;
• a cutting blade configured to slice a food product into a plurality of food slices;
• a motor configured to operatively drive the cutting blade;
• a support shaft operatively coupled to the support frame and configured to permit pivotal movement of the support frame about a pivot point;
• an actuator operatively coupled to the support frame and configured to reciprocally move the slicing assembly between an extended position and a retracted position;
• wherein when the slicing assembly is in the extended position, a plane of the cutting blade is substantially co-planar with a cutting plane of the food product, and the cutting blade slices the food product;
• and
• wherein when the slicing assembly is in the retracted position, the plane of the cutting blade is disposed at a predetermined angle away from the cutting plane of the food product, and the cutting blade does not contact the food product.

A slicing assembly for a food slicing system, the slicing assembly comprising:

• a support frame configured to support a motor and a cutting blade;
• the cutting blade configured to slice a food product into a plurality of food slices;
• the motor configured to operatively drive the cutting blade in a circular or orbital path;
• and
• a support shaft operatively coupled to the support frame and configured to permit pivotal movement of the support frame so as to move the cutting blade between an extended position and a retracted position.