Matís is currently working on a large-scale study where experiments are carried out with the freezing of salmon using magnetic and sound wave freezing in collaboration with Kælismiðjuna Frost and the seafood company Odda in Patreksfjörður.
This freezing method is a novelty in this country and it is mostly unknown in Europe but slightly known in Asia. It is estimated that the experiments will take six months, so the first results could be available in the middle of next year. The intention is to get a picture of how ultrasonically frozen salmon fillets react compared to conventional blast freezing, and not least of all the effects of such freezing on the product in the long term.
During traditional blast freezing, Sigurður J. Bergsson, Frost's technical director, says that the cell walls in the fish flesh burst and the cell liquid should thus clear its way out. When the fish fillet is thickened, the liquid leaks out and the quality of the fish decreases considerably. With the magnetic and sound wave freezing, the cell walls are prevented from bursting and the liquid from leaving the fish flesh. This keeps the freshness of the product. "The market has increased demands for fresh frozen products, and with this freezing method we believe that the seafood industry can meet them with the supply of fresh seafood with a much longer shelf life than is possible today," says Sigurður.
Magnetic and acoustic wave freezing can be described as a green technology with high energy efficiency, where sound waves are used to control and reduce the structure of crystals in fish and meat. Sigurður says this method improves the freezing process and speeds it up, it produces more uniform and smaller ice crystals, it slows down oxidation changes, which leads to significantly less damage to the food.
Sigurður says that the magnetic and sonic wave freezing has been tested on various types of products and preliminary results show that products frozen using this method taste almost as fresh.
It will be interesting to see what this research by Matís, Odda and Frost on salmon reveals. If it gives positive results and researchers become even more convinced of the feasibility of further developing this technology, Sigurður believes that the fishing companies will quickly take over. Kælismiðjan Frost and Matís have worked with the fishing industry on various solutions over the years, both for whiting and pelagic fish, so there is a lot of experience and trust. The goal is always to do even better for the fishing industry companies in the country.
A discussion from Kælismiðinn Frost about the project can be read in its entirety here: Frost introduces magnetic and acoustic wave freezing at the 2023 Marine Industry Conference
The Fisheries Conference was held in Harpa last week and there was a seminar dedicated to development in freezing technology. Sæmundur Elíasson, project manager at Matís, and Sigurjón Arason, chief engineer at Matís, gave a talk there. Sæmundur talked about recent technological developments in freezing and thawing, and Sigurjón about freezing before and after freezing. In the language institute, Sigurður Bergsson from Kælismiðinn Frost presented research on magnetic and sound wave freezing.