Author: hilduryr@matis.is

The professional meeting of the Sheep Breeding Association was held yesterday, Thursday, April 13, in Hvanneyri. The annual meeting was held in the building of the University of Agriculture and it is the professional council of sheep farming that organizes the event.

Many interesting topics were discussed at the meeting. Guðjón Þorkelsson, strategic expert at Matís, gave the talk: Does fat explosion make a difference to the taste of Icelandic lamb? and Sæmundur Sveinsson, professional manager at Matís, had the talk: The search for the genetic factors of bow crisis - Status of the project and future prospects.

We encourage those interested to watch the professional meeting in its entirety on the Youtube channel of the Icelandic Farmers' Association, by clicking here.

The message: The search for the genetic factors of bow crisis - Status of the project and future prospects starts at 1:43:00

The message: Does fat explosion make a difference to the taste of Icelandic lamb? starts at 2:07:00

Cover photo: Lbhí

The Microbial Analytical Service Laboratory of Matís was recently visited by a Quality Assessor from NYSDOH (New York State Department of Health). Visits such as these allow the laboratory to maintain its accredited methods for analysing potable water intended for sale in America.

The Matís Microbial Analytical Service Lab remain the only laboratory in Iceland to fulfil the requirements of the NELAC standard used by NYSDOH. The lab also complies with the ÍST EN ISO / IEC 17025 standard and is accredited by Swedac (Swedish Board for Accreditation and Conformity).

The NYSDOH assessor visited Matís on the 8th and 9th of March and thoroughly assessed the lab‘s quality system as a whole, as well as assessing the NELAC accredited methods. As previously stated the methods in question are used to analyse potable water.

Assessments such as these are regarded as excellent opportunities to grow and improve, and the staff of Analytical Services are always eager to polish the quality system and take the services they provide to their customers to the next level.

For a list of the accredited methods and services the Microbial Analytical Service Lab of Matís provides click here.

With increased population growth, food security for the future must be ensured, while at the same time taking care of the impact on the environment and climate. Food derived from fire has one of the lowest carbon footprints of animal products, and especially food that comes from the lower levels of the food chain. There are, for example, oysters, mussels and abalone. This and more is discussed in the new online course offered by UiT Norges arktiske universitet (The Arctic University of Norway). The course is interdisciplinary and at master's level.

The course opens on April 3, and is open to everyone.

The course covers a wide range of issues related to fire at the lower levels of the food chain. The biology and ecology of the main species, environmental impact, sustainability, economics and more are discussed. Students with different knowledge and experience should therefore all be able to find something that suits them. The course is based on short lectures in the form of videos, assignments and reading materials. Once the students have completed the course, they can receive a certificate to that effect from UiT.

The course was created as part of AquaVitae project, but it is a European project, funded by the Horizon 2020 (Grant Agreement No 818173) program of the European Union, with the aim of increasing the importance of farming at lower levels. Matís is part of both the project and the development team of the course.

Find out more about the course, here.

For more information, you can contact Katrína Hulda Gunnarsdóttir, an expert at Matís katrinh@matis.is.

It is gratifying to report that the first Green step has been achieved at Matís. The implementation of Green Steps in Matís' operations began at the beginning of 2022, and the first step was approved by the Environment Agency last Thursday, March 16.  

The green steps are a total of five steps. Steps 1-4 are grouped into seven categories, each of which has a different number of actions to fulfill. The last step, step 5, concerns only the environmental management of the workplace, divided into six elements and actions.  

The implementation of Green Steps at Matís does not only extend to our headquarters in Reykjavík, but all establishments must participate, in all categories and functions.

In step 1, we are starting a journey towards more environmentally friendly advantages, thinking and actions regarding Matís' operations. For example, the home ownership association needs to be informed about this journey, but it is also key to introduce the requirements of the steps to purchasing partners, storekeepers, cleaners/cleaning companies, the kitchen as well as all other establishments and staff.  

The requirements of the steps are, among other things, that procurement partners always trade products, i.e. there are some advantages that have environmental certification. In this connection, it is important to know well the certification marks that are recognized and under strict quality standards.  

The goal of Green Steps is to:  

• Reduce the negative environmental impact of Matís' operations 
• Promote the environmental awareness of staff 
• Increase the well-being of staff and improve the working environment  
• Reduce operating costs 
• Implement priorities in environmental matters 
• Actions in environmental matters are visible

The Green Steps team at Matís consists of the following passionate minds: Ásta Heiðrún Pétursdóttir, Anna Berg Samúelsdóttir, Birgir Örn Smárason, Eva Margrét Jónudóttir, Laura Malinauskaite and Justine Vanhalst.

Comparison of microbial communities from atmosphere and lava from two different active volcanic areas in Iceland, Surtsey and Fimmvörðuhálsi.

Aurelien Daussin, PhD student at Matís, has had a scientific article published in the journal Microorganisms (MDPI). The article is entitled "Comparison of Atmospheric and Lithospheric Culturable Bacterial Communities from Two Dissimilar Active Volcanic Sites, Surtsey Island and Fimmvörðuháls Mountain in Iceland". Matís instructors and staff Pauline Vannier and Viggó Þór Marteinsson are also co-authors of the article.

The aim of the study was to evaluate and compare the diversity of culturable microbial communities in lava at two different Icelandic volcanoes, on the island of Surtsey and on Fimmvörðuhálsi, and investigate their origin. Air and lava samples were collected in 2018-2019 from both volcanic areas. The main results showed that the origin of most of the culturable microorganisms in the lava lumps came from the local environment (85%), while others have traveled far.

You can read the entire article here.

New Zealand and Iceland are islands whose populations are strongly shaped by their proximity to the ocean. Both nations are highly dependent on the ocean, and the sustainable use of marine resources is therefore important for the survival and economy of the nations.

Last week, three Matís employees visited New Zealand, CEO Oddur Már Gunnarsson, Rósa Jónsdóttir project manager and Sophie Jensen, project manager, to take part in the workshop "Algal research and opportunities". The workshop was organized by Cawthron Institute which is one of New Zealand's largest scientific institutes with a special focus on environmental issues. Participants included representatives from New Zealand stakeholders such as NewFish, AgriSea, Plant & Food Research and Scion Research. International guests who attended the workshop were from the Kelp Forest Foundation, RISE, SAMS, Nordic Seafarm, Ghent University, UiT, Blu3, Nofima and Universidad de Los Lagos.
The goal of the workshop was to establish joint research and commercial projects with a focus on the production and utilization of algae.

On February 28, 2023, Oddur Már Gunnarsson, CEO of Matís, and Volker Kuntzsch, CEO, wrote Cawthron Institute under a partnership agreement. The aim of the agreement is to establish a cooperation platform between Iceland and New Zealand in the field of research related to marine resources. The collaboration will support the development of knowledge and the promotion of research, from idea to market. Increased cooperation and mutual support will strengthen Matís and the Cawthron Institute to strengthen the blue bioeconomy.

Jónas Rúnar Viðarsson, director of value creation at Matís, is currently present North Atlantic Seafood forum (NASF), in Bergen Norway.

Similar to 200 miles on mbl.is report today, Jónas talks about how important new protein sources are for growing feed production for salmon farming.

At the conference, Jónas presented the SYLFEED project that Matís is working on, and the goal of the project is to develop and design a value chain for the production of protein from forest products. Imports of protein for use in feed amount to 70% in Europe and the product of the SYLFEED project will be used as a high quality protein in fish feed in order to stem the levels of these increasing imports.

In his talk, Jónas also covered new proteins from microalgae, protozoa and insects.

Read the news on mbl.is here.

Find out more about the SYLFEED project here:

Development of unicellular protein from wood for use in feed for farmed salmon

Similar to The farmer's newspaper reported in its latest issue that Matís is now working on accurately analyzing the nutritional value and utilization ratio of lamb meat and lamb carcass by-products.

Measurements of nutrients are carried out on meat, offal and organs. The focus is on the measurements of protein and fat, which determine the energy value, but measurements of water, the total amount of minerals and selected vitamins and minerals are also carried out.

The project is extensive and provides invaluable information on the nutritional value of each individual piece of meat. With new data, it will be possible to improve cost and margin calculations during processing and product price estimation.

Read the full articles, here.

Find out more about the project here:

Discection yields and nutrient value of Icelandic lamb meat and organs