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"It is really possible to develop food products for people and feed for animals that contain these ingredients. Products that are, as a result, in many cases a healthier and more environmentally friendly option." This is what Birgir Örn Smárason, professional manager at Matís says, but for the past four years he has led a large collaborative project where alternative proteins have been the research topic. The project is now coming to an end and a harvest festival is ahead when the final conference will be held in Bremerhaven on September 7 and 8.

The NextGenProteins project is a collaborative project of 21 parties from 10 European countries, but Birgir Örn led it and other Matís staff worked on various aspects of it. The main objective of the project was to develop, optimize and optimize the production of three sustainably produced neoproteins, and verify their use in various foods and feeds.

"In short, it can be said that all the objectives of the project have been achieved. Of course, there will be some small changes in focus over the course of the project due to new ideas or results, but overall the plan was a complete success and everything that was supposed to be delivered was delivered."

"We also demonstrated ways to work with consumers and gain their consent, and presented strategic proposals to simplify and change government regulations and policies towards a more sustainable food system."

Good cooperation in challenging times

The past four years have in many ways been particularly challenging for collaborative projects between different parties and different research groups between countries, as the pandemic put a damper on things. Birgir says that the cooperation has been incredibly successful. It was possible to use the technology during meetings, but the project's relatives had to exercise their patience while waiting for the results of various measurements due to the closures at the laboratories.

"despite all this, it can be said that the project went as planned, and it is therefore best to thank a strong group of participants who have all worked hard to achieve the project's goals. We can also mention a good group within Matís who has led the project forward."

Greenish chickens

Various interesting and unexpected things can be revealed during pioneering research work like this, and Birgir recalls the challenges that arose when developing foods and feeds with microalgae protein. "The green color in microalgae is so strong that even in small amounts it takes over everything. In one experiment where chickens were to be fed feed containing microalgae protein, the feathers turned green!” With increased research work, it was later possible to develop ways to reduce or remove the color and dampen the taste, making it easier to develop food products and feed.

Great interest in the issue and a follow-up project in the making

"Matís has been working on projects related to new proteins and sustainable food systems for a long time and has joined the group of leading people who conduct such research. We will of course build on this and continue this journey. Our goal is to have a positive effect on food production as a whole, whether we look at Iceland or Europe, with sustainability as a guiding light for the good of all".

The final conference of the project will take place on September 7 and 8, and it will be a sort of harvest festival. Birgir says he is most excited to meet the group again. The project went through all the waves of Covid which meant that we could not meet for more than 2 years which is very unusual for such a collaborative project and uncomfortable for many. "It will therefore be nice to be able to celebrate the success with all the participants of the project and discuss the next steps".   

We encourage those who are interested to follow the results of the project, which will gradually appear on its website NextGenProteins.eu and even sign up for the final conference. It is possible to watch the conference online.

Recently, the web media Austurfrétt published a review of the updates to Matís equipment in Neskaupstaður that have taken place in recent seasons.

The coverage included an interview with Stefán Þór Eysteinsson, professional manager, who told about the latest addition in biomass plant Matís which is operated in Neskaupstaður, but it is a kind of centrifuge. In the biomass plant, you can find technologically perfect processing equipment that is well suited for the development and production of proteins and oils from by-products of food processing that can be used either in feed production or for human consumption and food production.

According to Stefán, the centrifuge is a definite backbone of the biomass plant's equipment complex and enables Matís to study almost all biomass that can potentially be further processed into some kind of product. In addition, the device allows us to scale up more with the aim of better simulating the real conditions at the customer's production site.

The news on Austurfrétt.is can be read in its entirety here:

A new device greatly increases Matís' research potential in Neskaupstaður

Matís' biomass plant can be found here:

Biorefinery

Students in the second year of product design at the Iceland University of the Arts visited Matís recently to get to know the activities and projects that are carried out here, but they placed special emphasis on how food will look in the future.

In the product design program, students receive, among other things, training in working on design projects in collaboration with associations, companies and institutions in society such as Matís. Þóra Valsdóttir, project manager at Matís, introduced them to the activities and the diverse projects that have been carried out here, before accompanying them around the building where they could see the facilities that Matís has to offer. Afterwards, the students had the opportunity to view VR videos from the project Future Kitchen in virtual reality glasses where the possibilities for the kitchen of the future are examined.

The videos are available on Matís' Youtube channel here:

Future Kitchen VR

The students were accompanied by the head of product design, Elínar Margot, who emphasizes that second-year students learn about food design and focus especially on how food and the culture around it will look in the future using the methodology of speculative design (e.speculative design).

The students asked about all kinds of diverse projects, so it will be interesting to see what they will do in the program and in the years to come.

Since 2005, the North Atlantic Seafood Forum (NASF) has been an annual event where managers and stakeholders in the fishing industry and aquaculture meet in Bergen to learn about the main innovations and compare books.

This time, NASF will be held on March 5 – 7, 2024, and around 1,000 people are expected to attend the event. The target group of this three-day conference are managers and investors in the fishing industry, aquaculture and related industries, ie device manufacturers, marketing companies, banks, insurance companies, carriers, consulting companies, etc.

Among the things offered in the program is an entrepreneurship and innovation competition. 10 entrepreneurs will be given the opportunity to present their solutions and compete for great prizes. This is an extremely good opportunity for entrepreneurs to draw attention to their solutions that benefit the fishing industry and aquaculture. You can see the companies that were nominated at NASF23 here. Applications for NASF24 are now open. Are more information and registration sheets available here and we encourage Icelandic entrepreneurs to apply.