Incision making apparatus and incision making method

A method of making an incision on a shoulder of a poultry carcass for cutting a shoulder joint section of a poultry carcass, the method comprising:

• a workpiece positioning step of placing a poultry carcass which is eviscerated and which has leg parts removed on a plurality of fixing jigs mounted to a conveyer forming a conveyance path of the poultry carcass along a conveying direction so that a breast section of the poultry carcass faces forward or backward in the conveying direction;
• a workpiece conveying step of conveying the plurality of fixing jigs along the conveyance path set in advance;
• an incision-making step of making an incision on a shoulder joint section of the poultry carcass with a cutter to make an incision disposed in the conveyance path, while conveying the plurality of fixing jigs along the conveyance path;
• and
• a cutting step of cutting the shoulder joint section of the poultry carcass by inserting a cutter at a downstream side of the cutter to make an incision in the conveying direction into the incision,
• wherein, while conveying the plurality of fixing jigs along the conveyance path, the plurality of fixing jigs are tilted toward a horizontal direction with an inclination-angle defining part defining an angle of the fixing jig with respect to the horizontal direction in accordance with a position in the conveying direction immediately after cutting the shoulder joint section to avoid cutting a meat portion disposed downstream of the shoulder joint section.