System and method for processing slaughtered animals and/or parts thereof

A slaughtered pig leg parts conveyor system comprising a first and a second slaughtered pig leg parts conveyor device for conveying individual pig leg parts, wherein an individual pig leg part includes at least a portion of a pig leg and the pig foot, each of said first and second conveyor device comprising:

• a track, and
• one or more pig leg part carriers movable along said track, each carrier being adapted to carry an individual pig leg part, wherein each carrier has one pig foot retaining assembly adapted to engage on a single pig foot so as to retain the pig leg part in a position suspended from the carrier,
• wherein the retaining assembly includes a pig foot aperture adapted to receive the pig foot, the aperture having a rigid reference face, the retaining assembly being adapted to receive the pig foot with its central metatarsal bones adjacent said rigid reference face, and the retaining assembly being adapted to press the lateral metatarsal towards the rigid reference face,
• wherein the retaining assembly has a slot adapted to receive the pig foot, which slot is open at one end thereof to introduced the pig foot sideways into the slot and remove the pig foot sideways from the slot,
• wherein the system includes a transfer station where pig leg parts are transferred directly from the first conveyor to the second conveyor,
• wherein the conveyor devices are embodied such that at the transfer station the motion of the carriers of the first and second conveyors is synchronized so that a leg part that is initially suspended from the leg retaining assembly of a carrier of the first conveyor device is transferred into the slot of the leg retaining assembly of a carrier of the second conveyor device, the leg part remaining suspended in the transfer process by at least one of the leg retaining members.