Food material transfer apparatus

A food material transfer apparatus for transferring flexible stacked food materials one by one to a predetermined position, comprising:

• a plurality of vacuum sucking pads for picking up one food material from the stacked food materials,
• pad-lowering means connected to the vacuum sucking pads for lowering the same,
• suction detection means communicating with the vacuum sucking pads, said suction detection means detecting if at least one of the pads sucks the one food material,
• calculation means electrically connected to the suction detection means, said calculation means calculating a height of the stacked food materials and a distance of a downward movement of the pads from a position corresponding to the height of the stacked food materials, and
• a control section connected to the pad-lowering means and the suction detection means, said control section, when the suction detection means detects that at least one of the pads sucks the one food material, operating the pad-lowering means to further lower the pads for said distance of the downward movement to thereby securely hold the one food material by the plurality of the vacuum sucking pads.