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Abstract

An apparatus and method for the automated and large scale preparation of layered stacks of one or more food items such as sandwich meats, hors d'oeuvre servings and the like ('set-ups'). The apparatus conveys a continuous web of paper through a plurality of slicer stations, each slicer station providing one or more slices of one or more food items to sequentially form set-ups of two or more stacked layers of horizontally spaced food slices. The apparatus is synchronized so that each sliced layer is conveyed to a subsequent slicer station before the next layer of food slices is deposited directly on top of that previous layer. The set-up is formed with two or more stacked layers of food slices before being conveyed to a cutter/wrapping station where the paper web is cut to separate the finished set-ups which are then wrapped by folding a portion of the cut paper over the finished set-up. The wrapper separates the set-ups when they are subsequently stacked and packaged and also allows for the sanitary handling of the set-ups when they are unpackaged and used to make sandwiches or the like. The apparatus can include a second paper supply device to interpose a second web of paper between two layers of food to thereby prevent the exchange of flavor and color components between the layers.

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First Claim