Abstract: An apparatus for removing gristle and the like from meat during a chopping operation in a feed screw apparatus having at least one axially perforated disc with a rotary bearing for receiving the hub of a rotary knife. A channel extends radially through the disc from the rotary bearing to the outside of the apparatus for discharging the gristle fed into it by the rotary movement of the knife arm extending from a hub journalled in the rotary bearing into engagement with a planar surface of the disc.