Abstract: Disclosed herein is a destacking device for dispensing planar food products, such as tortillas, from a stack bottom. In some embodiments of the invention, the device includes a frame and a carriage assembly configured for linear reciprocation with respect to the frame. The carriage assembly has a drum that rotates in response to linear reciprocation of the carriage assembly, and a suction lip is positioned proximal a wall of the drum. A stack of tortillas can be disposed on the suction lip, and a negative pressure is applied to close the suction lip and “suck” a bottommost tortilla against the lip. A movable arm has a leading edge for cooperating with the suction lip to separate the bottommost tortilla from a next bottommost tortilla. The drum rotates the suction lip and tortilla, and the vacuum is released to allow the tortilla to fall downwardly onto an endless belt.

Abstract: An improved platform for use with a conveyor system used in the automated formation of folded food products such as burritos, taquitos and the like. The platform includes a substantially planar base and an articulated flap having pivotally connected upper and lower members. The articulated flap rotates with respect to the base to fold the shell of the food product once. The upper member of the articulated flap rotates with respect to the lower member to create a pinch-like subsequent fold in the previously folded shell, which secures the filling within the initial enclosure. The platform may also include additional, rigid flaps for making additional folds after the upper member makes the pinch-like fold. Once the final fold is made, the partially-folded food product may be securely transferred to the mechanism for finalizing the folding and production thereof.

Abstract: The apparatus of the present invention includes an indexing feeder for feeding the elongated food articles, a first slicing station and a second slicing station disposed along the indexing feeder for slicing the food articles into slabs, and a container conveyor system for delivering containers to receive the slabs. The articles are placed individually into winged troughs ("flights") carried by the indexing feeder and the feeder is advanced by two flight spacings in each slicing cycle. The second slicing station is displaced from the first slicing station by an odd number of flights. Each slicing station further includes an indexing turret with a number of self-centering chucks disposed around the periphery of the turret. The turret is rotated in such a way so as to allow a food article to be inserted into each chuck as the chuck rotates past the indexing feeder.