a method of processing items such as pieces of meat , by providing a stream of items by means of a primary conveyor means , allocating at least partly by means of a computer system one or more of said items to one of at least two workstations where said items are processed , e . g . cut and / or trimmed , resulting in one or more processed items , registering in said computer system information about a return of at least one of said one or more processed items to said primary conveyor means , and returning said at least one of said one or more processed items to said primary conveyor means in accordance with said information about a return , wherein the method further comprises keeping track of said items including when they are taken out and put back on the primary conveyor . the invention further relates to a processing system for carrying out the method .