Every other year, conferences are held in the Nordic countries, mostly on sensory evaluation and consumer research, and IFL has taken part in their preparation. The next conference will be held in Oslo on 3-5. May and is entitled Focus on the Nordic Consumer.
The interest and participation of people from the food industry in attending these conferences has steadily increased in recent years, as it is an ideal forum for the industry and scientists to meet. On average, more than 100 people, from many countries, have attended the conferences in recent years, and it is worth mentioning that people from at least 12 countries, apart from Icelanders, took part in such a conference that IFL hosted in Reykjavík in 1999.
The main topics of the conference this time will be innovations and demand in the field of "traditional" foods, the meal itself and also health and diet will be discussed, incl. target food. IFL has, as before, taken part in the preparations for the conference and at the conference in Oslo, two IFL staff will deliver speeches. Emilía Martinsdóttir will discuss the European project "SeafoodSense" Increased sensory quality for the consumer, which is part of SEAFOODplus the project and Kolbrún Sveinsdóttir who will talk about the AVS project Attitudes and fish consumption of young consumers.
People in the food industry in this country and others who are interested in this topic are encouraged to register their participation as soon as possible. Registrations will be accepted for the next two weeks at least Further description and program
Sensory evaluation and sensory evaluation research have long been an important field at IFL, and the emphasis has increasingly been on consumer research. IFL has participated in many domestic and foreign research projects regarding sensory evaluation and food quality and held various sensory evaluation courses for employees of fish processing companies and other food companies in recent years. IFL staff has also provided theoretical and practical instruction in sensory assessment at the Department of Food Science at the University of Iceland and at the fisheries department of the University of Akureyri's resources department. IFL staff also teach sensory assessment at the United Nations Fisheries Academy.