Apparatus for stacking, singulating, and dispensing pliable food products and methods therefor

An apparatus for handling food products comprising:

• an alignment trough disposed at an incline for holding a stack of the food products at an incline, the alignment trough defining a portion of a passage upon which the food products travel, the stack defining a bottom food product, the alignment trough generally defining a longitudinal direction and including two side walls and a middle wall between the two side walls, the middle wall and the side walls slidingly engaging the food products in the stack;
• an alignment mechanism disposed in the vicinity of the alignment trough and configured to apply a lateral force on the food products to maintain the food products in the stack, the alignment mechanism comprising at least two rollers including a plurality of edges disposed to engage side edges of the food products and impart a lateral force on the side edges of the food products to rotate the food products in the alignment trough, the at least two rollers having an axis of rotation generally parallel to the longitudinal direction and being mounted between at least one of the two sidewalls and the middle wall;
• and
• at least one resilient, movable member extending into the passage to control the separation of the bottom food product from the remainder of the stack, wherein the at least one movable member elastically deforms to provide clearance for the bottom food product to pass the movable member.