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Tomorrow, Tuesday 18 May, Brent Richards will be in Iceland. Brent is an architect and designer who has long worked on food design. 

For many years he ran the DesignLab at the Central Saint Martin School of Design in London. Brent is currently the Executive Director of The Design Embassy Europe. He has strong international connections in the world of design, food culture and innovations in food and experience. Brent is very interested in the state of affairs here in our area and comes here with the girls in "Björg-í-bú" who are currently working on a project for the production of sea-salted potato chips from the State of Vatnajökull.  

He will give a lecture on innovation in small-scale food production and its connection to regional culture. The title of the lecture is: FOOD NARRATIVE - CONNECTION WITH CULTURAL AND REGIONAL IDENITY.

The lecture starts at 12²⁰ and will be in the lecture hall of Nýheimar in Höfn

Following the lecture, Brent will have a short "workshop" where he will work with interested parties on the definition of opportunities in the State of Vatnajökull. 

Of course, we encourage everyone to attend.

From 18.-19. May, a conference will be held at the Hilton Reykjavík Nordica Hotel on behalf of the Nordic Atlantic Committee (NORA).

The purpose of this conference is to examine and explore the possibility of co-operation between parties that in one way or another have interests in the North Atlantic. Rannveig Björnsdóttir will give a talk, while Sjöfn Sigurgísladóttir, CEO of Matís, will chair one of the conference seminars.

The agenda of the conference can be found here.

NORA or the Nordic Atlantic Committee is part of the Nordic Council of Ministers and is part of Nordic co-operation in the field of regional affairs and regional co-operation. The Nordic co-operation environment and project-oriented work create NORA's good foundation for cross-border co-operation, based on Nordic goals and values.

NORA's activities are funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers and contribute from the four participating countries, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Iceland and Norway.

The NORA Committee consists of three members from each of the participating countries, and the committee formulates a policy for NORA's activities for several years at a time.

NORA's head office is located in Þórshöfn in the Faroe Islands. In the other member countries, Iceland, Greenland and southern Norway, and western and northern Norway, national offices and contacts operate.

NORA contributes to strengthening co-operation in the North Atlantic area to make it a strong Nordic region, characterized by strong and sustainable development. This is done, among other things, by strengthening co-operation between the business community and research and development activities across borders.

It is therefore NORA's task:

• to create a political and professional forum for discussion on solutions and policy-making and joint entrepreneurship in the North Atlantic area.
• to establish and mediate project collaboration
• to work towards development in accordance with the Nordic goals for sustainability.
• to develop NORA as an attractive platform for Nordic co-operation with neighboring countries.

Matís does not leave anything to chance to accommodate students and others who are unemployed this summer.

Matís offers a wide range of interesting research-related summer jobs and students in related disciplines are encouraged to submit a job application.

Applications sent to atvinna@matis.is. Those who have already applied for summer jobs at Matís before the summer of 2010 do not need to apply again.

Here you can see a list of the research projects that are available.

Matís employs about 100 people in 8 locations across the country. Further information on Matís' emphasis can be found here.

It is important to consider all aspects of the food value chain because each chain is never stronger than its weakest link.

The main results of the project "Reforms in the food value chain" have now been compiled in a report and published on Matís' website and can be found here along with detailed reports on Matís' aspects of the project.

The project was led by the Confederation of Icelandic Industries and carried out in collaboration with Kaupás, Norðlenska, Sláturfélag Suðurlands, the Research Center of the store, Matís and AGR action analysis.

The Technology Development Fund supported the project. The project focused on the process of meat products, which is a rather complex processing and requires both cooling and in some cases heating, throughout the processing process and throughout the store. Nevertheless, the results should be useful in other sectors of food processing.

Food manufacturers are encouraged to familiarize themselves with the contents of the report.

Matís has also published three other reports on individual aspects of the project; Product process mapping and product management, The effect of the cooling chain on the shrinkage of meat together Suggestions for project descriptions for meat refrigeration chains.

For further information, contact Þóra Valsdóttir, thora.valsdottir@matis.is.

A report has been published from Matís ohf. which is called Undesirable substances in seafood products - results from the Icelandic marine monitoring activities.

The report, which can be found here, shows the results of measurements of the amount of toxic pollutants in Icelandic seafood in 2008 and is part of a continuous monitoring project funded by the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture and has been ongoing since 2003. As in previous years of monitoring, the results of 2008 show that an edible part of fish caught in Icelandic waters contains very small amounts of organic pollutants such as dioxins, dioxin-like PCBs and pesticides (insecticides and plant toxins), compared to the maximums recognized by European countries. Oil and meal made from blue whiting, however, must be close to or exceed the permissible limits for certain substances. Cod liver can also exceed the permitted limits.

The data collected year after year in this project is used to build an increasingly accurate database on the state of Icelandic marine products with regard to pollutants. The report is in English and is accessible on Matís' website so that it can be used by producers, exporters, the government and others to promote the safety and wholesomeness of Icelandic fish products.

The results of measurements of cod liver, fishmeal and fish oil for feed preparation confirm the need to closely monitor the levels of persistent organic pollutants such as dioxins, PCBs and pesticides in these products in the spring. The concentration of the substances depends on the nutritional status of the pelagic fish stocks from which the products are processed and reaches its peak during the spawning season. The levels of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs as well as individual pesticides stop exceeding the EU's permitted levels. This is especially true for blue whiting products.

A graphical presentation of the results of the monitoring project can be accessed on Matís' website via the link "Icelandic seafood - clean and unpolluted“.

The authors of the report are Hrönn Ólína Jörundsdóttir, Katrín Hauksdóttir, Natasa Desnica and Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir. The project manager is Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir, who provides further information, helga.gunnlaugsdottir@matis.is.

Access to project pages on the Matís website has now been greatly improved. The tab directly on the project pages is located in a green banner at the top right of the front page of Matís, www.matis.is.

Research projects within the company are funded by Matís ohf., As well as grants from domestic and foreign research funds. Numerous projects are carried out for and financed in part or in full by domestic companies and institutions.

Further information can be found here and by contacting Jón H. Arnarson, jon.h.arnarson@matis.is.

Matís is looking for collaboration with parties that produce skyr in a traditional way.

Skyr is a traditional Icelandic product that seems to have been made in Iceland since the settlement, but a dairy product under this same name was then known in all the Nordic countries. Skyrgerð, however, seems to have been preserved only in Iceland. Probably the sky during the settlement era has been different from what we know today, both more acidic and thinner. The production of skyr has changed significantly in the last century with the advent of its factory production. Various versions are now available from the factory
skyri, they all have in common that they are quite different from the homemade ones.

Skyr is an important part of our cultural heritage in Iceland and it is therefore important to gain more knowledge about this product. Nevertheless, little research has been done on traditional skyr and its diversity. Matís is currently seeking research on the composition and properties of traditional skyr and is therefore looking for collaboration with parties that still practice skyr in the traditional way.

For further information, contact Þóra Valsdóttir at Matís, tel. 422-5143, thora.valsdottir@matis.is.