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The meeting will discuss, among other things, whether organic agriculture is an option in Iceland. The meeting starts at 12:45 and lasts until kl. 17:00.

The meeting will try to shed light on various aspects of organic agriculture. Are Organic Products Healthier Than Others? Do the production methods cause less damage to the environment than in the case of traditional agriculture? Is organic farming better able to meet consumer wishes in terms of animal welfare? The seminar will try to find answers to these questions and countless others.

Dr. Áslaug Helgadóttir, Assistant Rector of Research, Agricultural University of Iceland, will chair the meeting, and Einar K. Guðfinnsson, Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, will address the meeting. The chairman of the meeting will be Dr. Sjöfn Sigurgísladóttir, CEO of Matís.

Kristján Oddsson, farmer at Neðra-Háls in Kjós, gives a talk which he calls Organic production: For whom and why? Kristján discusses first and foremost organic milk production as a business idea - the advantages and disadvantages of engaging in organic milk production. Then dr. Guðni Þorvaldsson, associate professor at the Agricultural University of Iceland, explains the beginnings and origins of organic agriculture as well as the ideology behind it. He intends to examine whether organic farming, as it is currently practiced, is based on a different foundation than the ideology of the entrepreneurs. 

Runólfur Sigursveinsson, a consultant at Búnaðarsambandi Suðurlands discusses the regulation on organic production of agricultural products and labeling and dr. Ólafur Dýrmundsson, a consultant at the Icelandic Farmers' Association, gives a talk which he calls Conditions for organic farming in Iceland, where the biological conditions for such farming in Iceland will be discussed, with regard to soil fertility, climate, livestock welfare and livestock industries to name a few. Ólafur will also briefly refer to the support that farmers have for adapting to organic farming. 

Dr. Holger Kirchmann, professor at the University of Agriculture, Uppsala, gives a talk comparing crops, carbon sequestration, nutrient leaching and energy consumption in organic and traditional agriculture. 

Grétar Hrafn Harðarson, lecturer at the Agricultural University of Iceland, gives a talk entitled A comparison of the health and welfare of livestock and the safety of products in organic and traditional agriculture. In the presentation, Grétar Hrafn intends to discuss possible changes in the incidence of production diseases when switching to organic agriculture and how preventive measures can be taken. Grétar Hrafn also talks about a possible difference in the health of livestock products under organic conditions. 

Finally, dr. Daði Már Kristófersson, economist at Hagfræðistofnun H.Í. deliver a talk he calls The Economics of Organic Agriculture.

 At the end of the presentation, there will be queries and panel discussions.

MmmmmSeafood is the name of a project sponsored by the Nordic Innovation Center (Nordisk InnovationsCenter). The name of the project can probably be translated as "Nammifiskur" in Icelandic, but its purpose is precisely to increase young people's interest in fish and seafood.

Despite the fact that more and more studies show a good effect of fish consumption on health, fish consumption is declining among young people. In recent years, Matís has been working on research into young people's fish consumption.

In fact, it is not just Icelanders who are worried about this unfortunate development, and in 2007 a co-operation project between Iceland, Norway and Denmark was established to strengthen the Nordic fisheries sector by developing new consumer-friendly product ideas for young people and young families to increase consumption of high-quality seafood. both at home and away from home (eg in school canteens).

To achieve this goal, a network (Nordic Seafood Network -NSN) will be established, with 31 participants from Norway, Denmark and Iceland. The network consists of nine fish producers, five retailers and restaurants, four marketing companies, five from governments and cities, two people from canteen chains, one food designer and five food research institutes.

Matís is currently holding a two-day meeting on the project, and in addition to the company, Icelandic participants include the Public Health Institute, Fylgifiskar and the City of Reykjavík's Department of Education.

The picture shows the participants in the meeting, which takes place on Skúlagata 4. 

One of the projects that is being worked on in Matís' Processing and Product Development Division is called Refrigeration. Its aim is to promote the implementation of best knowledge and procedures for refrigeration and process control for fish products to ensure quality properties, traceability and safety of raw materials and products, and to promote the utilization of this information for Icelandic producers in their markets.

It is known that rapid and safe cooling of marine catches maintains better quality, prolongs shelf life and thereby increases the value of marine products. In recent decades, increasing attention has been paid to liquid and pumpable ice media, which are commonly referred to as slush or liquid ice. It is a mixture of liquid (water, salt water or sea) and ice crystals with a particle size of approx. 0.005 - 1 mm. Due to the salt content, the freezing point of sludge and liquid ice is lower than 0 ° C, which contributes to faster cooling than with conventional flake ice, as has often been shown experimentally.

In the project, comparative experiments were performed on cooling rate and cooling capacity (how well the refrigerant maintains cooling) of different types of pumpable ice media and flake ice. The different refrigerants used in the experiments were as follows: uncooked flake ice, crushed flake ice, liquid ice from Optimar ("Optim-Ice"), slush ice from Skagan ("Flow-Ice"), liquid ice from Crytec ("Bubble Slurry Ice") ) and saline. The ambient temperature was closely monitored and therefore controlled in the experiments to minimize its potential impact. The development of the temperature of saithe in both refrigeration and storage was monitored, in addition to which a cylinder of agar nutrient was cooled in different ice media. 

The main results of the experiments are that the temperature of the refrigerant is most important for the cooling rate. The importance of even distribution of the refrigerant was abundantly clear, but the particle size of liquid / slush ice is not as important a property. Based on the temperature measurements made in the project, flake ice seems to be more suitable than liquid ice for storing fish, provided that the storage is longer than approx. 3 days. 

Graph showing different cooling rates (pdf file)

The project was funded by the Rannís Technology Development Fund and AVS.

Work has been done to improve equipment at Matís in Ísafjörður. In the Westfjords, great emphasis is placed on aquaculture, especially cod farming in the sea, where Matís pursues a strong research and development team in good collaboration with companies in the area.

Matís aims to become a leader in the field of environmental research in connection with aquaculture, as it is necessary to monitor the impact on the environment caused by aquaculture. Equipment is currently being used at Matís in Ísafjörður to film underwater films.

It is known that farmed fish do not use all the feed given to them and they accumulate on the seabed and can cause pollution. Cod spawning is also known to occur in sea cages, so fertilized eggs are likely to be released into the environment, although negative genetic mixing has not yet been demonstrated. Preventing spawning in aquaculture pens would therefore be a very important step towards making farming an environmentally friendly industry with improved feed utilization, which means that less feed falls to the bottom under pens.

The equipment makes it possible to closely monitor the interaction, behavior of fish and the environment in Matís' aquaculture experiments in Álftafjörður. The images can be viewed on a computer from a distance. The equipment also opens up new possibilities such as monitoring side farms such as mussel farming in the vicinity of the fish farms.

The equipment was purchased in collaboration with the Marine Research Institute on the one hand and Álfsfell ehf on the other, which is a company in cod farming. Rannís provided funding for the purchase.

The picture shows Dr. Þorleif Ágústsson, project manager at Matís in Ísafjörður, with the underwater camera.

As was reported here last week, Matís and Matvælastofnun (MAST) held a joint event at Hotel Hilton Nordica th. April 16.
Many interesting lectures were given and now the slides from all of them are accessible here on Matís' website.

AGENDA:

Address by Einar K. Guðfinnsson, Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture

Sjöfn Sigurgísladóttir, CEO of Matís. - Speech

Jón Gíslason, CEO of MAST. - Speech

Alisdair Wotherspoon, Food Standards Agency (FSA), UK. Food Safety - Global trade and new challanges in Food Safety.

Franklin Georgsson, Matís. Food diseases in Iceland - development in Iceland, main dangers and comparisons with other nations.

Jón Gíslason, MAST. Implementation of comprehensive EU food legislation - translation for Iceland and food security.

Rúnar Gíslason, Kokkarnir ehf. - Large kitchen - security for cooking and service at large parties.

Friðrik Valur Karlsson, Friðrik V. - Origin of raw materials in restaurants.

Guðmundur Heiðar Gunnarsson, Matís. - Local food production - opportunities and threats.

Reynir Eiríksson, Norðlenska. - Importance of traceability for food safety.

Davíð Gíslason, allergist. - Food allergies and food intolerances.

Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir, Matís. - Icelandic environment and foreign matter.

On Saturday 19 April, a seminar on food-related tourism was held in Ísafjörður. The aim of the seminar was to discuss ways to develop food tourism in the Westfjords, which results in an increased number of tourists to the area and the use of local ingredients.

The aim of the symposium was also to gather people interested in this issue from the quarter and get them to start collaborating. Jón Gunnar Schram from Matís in Ísafjörður took the initiative for the seminar, but in addition Ásgerður Þorleifsdóttir from Atvinnuþróunarfélag Vestfjarði worked on the preparation, together with Jóna Símonía Bjarnadóttir, Heimi Hansson and Finnbogi Bernódusson on the preparation committee.

Participants came from all over the Westfjords. Informative presentations were made about the experience from other parts of the country and about the situation in the Westfjords. Matís employees gave three presentations: Þóra Valsdóttir discussed the development of products from local ingredients and food design and Ólafur Reykdal explained the chemical content and uniqueness of Westfjords food.

The meeting was held in Edinburgh House, which is the largest wooden house in the country, but it has been renovated in a fun way.

The picture shows Soffía Gústafsdóttir giving a talk on Westfjords delicatessen sites.

Crowds were at the conference Food, safety and health, a joint conference of Matís and Matvælastofnun (MAST), which took place at the Hilton Nordica Hotel today, 16 April. It is estimated that around 200 people attended the conference at its peak.

So many people attended the conference that many had to wait for a coffee break, but then seats could be added. Many good speakers gave presentations at the conference, and hopefully it will be possible to view slides from them here in the near future. In the meantime, it will suffice to publish some photos of conference guests. 

Milk and soy proteins have long been used successfully in the food industry. There is a growing market for protein, with a worldwide turnover of billions of dollars. The most common proteins used in the food industry are processed from both animal and plant kingdoms. It has long been known that quality proteins are found in fish, but for various reasons it has proved more difficult to use them as additives in food than the aforementioned proteins. Matís' new research may change that.

Soy protein is the most common plant protein today and whey protein the most common animal protein. Casein, gelatin and dried egg whites follow. Despite indications of various excellent processing properties of fish proteins, methods of isolation and purification are less advanced than for vegetable and milk proteins. The fish proteins can therefore not yet compete with the aforementioned proteins as excipients in prepared foods.

Matís research
New technology, developed by Matís, has made it possible to isolate and clean fish proteins from cuts made during traditional fillet processing. The protein can then be used to improve utilization in fillet processing and also in ready-made products such as fish balls and deep-fried fish. There is also a growing market for products processed with enzymes, microfiltration and other technologies. This market is based on various healthy properties of fish proteins and products made from them.

In 2005, the Fisheries Research Institute (IFL) founded the company Iceprótein ehf to produce and sell fish protein products for use in both traditional fish processing and health products. The project 'Fish Protein Markets'  which began that year was a joint project of IFL (now Matís) and Iceprótein ehf. The aim was to map the market and examine products with fish proteins and materials processed from them to lay the foundation for the company's strategy, structure and market connections. 

Matís' final report on the project was recently published (Matís report 07-08), which begins with a general assessment of proteins in the food market, ie. different types of proteins and their market share. Then the main products with fish proteins are explained, i.e. fishmeal, fish protein concentrate, surimi, isolati, fish digestion, fish sauce, flavors, gelatin, dietary supplements and their health-related properties.

The authors of the report say that despite indications of various excellent processing properties of fish proteins, methods of isolation and purification are less advanced than for vegetable and milk proteins. The fish proteins can therefore not yet compete with them as excipients in prepared foods.

Fish protein against obesity?
However, there is a good chance that more dietary supplements from hydrolyzed fish proteins (VFPs) can be developed, for example to reduce blood pressure or to increase the body's protection against stress. It is believed that certain protein products can even be used to control appetite in the fight against obesity. In addition, there are products on the market to lower the glycemic index.

The market for such fish protein products is not large but is expected to grow in the coming years, in addition to which there are opportunities to use traditional production methods, such as fermentation, to enhance the bioactivity properties of VFP and use them in products already known to consumers. Thus, it is very likely that low-salt fish sauces and fish flavors with specially designed bioactive properties will be available in the future. However, this is partly due to the fact that the health claims are accepted. This requires extensive and costly research that both public bodies and companies need to fund.