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People enjoy fish meals better and can think of buying fish more often if they receive instruction in quality assessment of fish, according to a survey conducted by Matís among fish consumers.

A course was held on how to assess the freshness of fish for consumers. The course was divided into two parts. In the first part, consumers were given a short lecture on the quality characteristics of cod and how it changes during storage. They were trained to evaluate the freshness of raw and boiled cod fillets of different freshness according to rating scales.

In the second part of the course, the same consumers were asked to rate raw and cooked fillets according to their own taste and also to evaluate freshness. Furthermore, they were asked for suggestions regarding the instructions, the grading scales and whether the content of the course was useful. The results of the course indicated that guidelines of this kind are fully relevant to consumers.

The course participants' assessment of raw and cooked fish fillets according to grading scales showed that they were quick to adopt the methods and descriptions given of different raw materials. At the end of the course, the participants in question were more confident in assessing the quality of fish, believing that they would enjoy fish meals better than before and that they would buy fish more often than before.

The results of the project, entitled Knowledgeable Fish Consumers, provide evidence that people benefit from guidelines on handling and quality. It would be prudent to follow up the project with a larger group of consumers, both to obtain a more reliable assessment of the usefulness of this type of guidance, as well as to monitor the long-term impact of this type of information.

You can read about the results of the survey here.

"The main reason for quality problems in herring is the high content of compounds that promote drying and affect color and texture changes, along with the loss of nutrients," says Matís' report on how to improve the quality of herring for consumption. It is also said that better quality leads to increased competition in the production of herring in the Nordic countries, together with a positive attitude of consumers towards herring products.

The report's Improved quality of herring for human consumption states that herring is one of the most important fish species in the North Atlantic and the Baltic Sea. "Despite the fact that a large part of the catch goes to human consumption, about 85% of herring is processed into fish oil and flour." It says that it is important to study different factors that affect the quality of herring and especially how they are controlled by biological conditions.

"The main cause of quality problems in herring is the high content of compounds that promote development, and affect color and texture changes, as well as loss of nutrients. Better quality results in increased competition for herring production in the Nordic countries, as well as a positive attitude of consumers towards herring products. "

The main goal of the project was to improve the quality and quantity of herring, for consumption, by researching the quality of the raw material after fishing. "Emphasis was placed on quality immediately after fishing and the quality of the raw material after varying periods of time in the frost. Factors such as fishing location and fishing time did not affect the quality of the herring. However, the storage was frozen
-20 ° C significant effect on the quality of the raw material. "

You can view the report here.

Feed prices for farmed cod can be reduced by up to 30%, thereby reducing production costs by 15% by reducing protein intake and increasing fat. It is also possible to reduce feed costs by using cheaper fishmeal and vegetable raw materials in the feed, mainly for larger fish, according to a study of the development of seafood feed.

The project: The development of seafood feed is a collaborative project between Matís, Fóðurverksmiðjan Laxár, Háskólinn á Hólar, Versinn á Sauðárkrókur and Háskólinn á Akureyri. It was funded by the AVS Research Fund.

Jón Árnason, head of Matís' aquaculture department, says that it is important to study feed for aquaculture in particular, as it is by far the largest single cost item for aquaculture companies due to production, or around 55% of operating costs per production per kg of cod. "A large part of research on feed worldwide has so far been carried out within feed companies and therefore the results are often not public. That is why it is very important for aquaculture companies in this country to receive new research on how they can reduce costs, "says Jón.

Protein is the most expensive raw material in feed production

He says that cod reacts to different raw materials in feed; he needs various nutrients but especially a great need for protein, which is a necessary element for the development of fish flesh. Protein, on the other hand, is the most expensive raw material in animal feed. "It does not really matter to the cod to get all the protein from high-quality fishmeal, but it can to a certain extent use other types of fishmeal and protein from the vegetable kingdom," says Jón.

The results of experiments with different amounts of protein in the feed show that there is no statistical difference in growth if the protein is increased in excess of 48% to 70 gr. fish. Then there is no benefit in increasing protein in excess of 39-43% in feed for 600 gr. fish. It is therefore possible to reduce the cost of raw materials by lowering the protein content of feed from what it is today without compromising growth.

Jón also says that the increase in fat in the feed causes some increase in the liver percentage in 500-800 grams. cod but it is within what has been found in wild cod inland. However, there is a significantly higher liver percentage in smaller cod with increased fat in the feed. This means that protein can be replaced by fat to a certain extent.

Unequivocal results

The results of the project indicate that there are various options for reducing feed costs. You can use different ingredients and reduce protein compared to today's use. It is also possible to use more fat, especially in larger fish.

Jón says that the results of research on feed for cod farming in this country are unequivocal. "The results indicate that it is possible to reduce feed prices by 30% and thereby reduce production costs for cod by 15%, if raw material prices are taken into account from earlier this year. There are also opportunities to reduce feed costs even further by precisely adjusting the proportions of raw materials in the feed, taking into account the digestibility of the nutrients in them. "

Matís employees have completed a report on water and ice in fish processing in Sri Lanka. They have been overseeing research in this area for the past year and a half and have been working on the final results of the report.

This is a collaborative project of the Icelandic International Development Agency, the Ministry of Fisheries of Sri Lanka and NARA, the Directorate of Fisheries of Sri Lanka. Matís employees were hired to work on this project from 2006 and interpret the data in the final results of the report. Viggó Marteinsson and Hrólfur Sigurðsson, employees of Matís' microbiology department, presented the results at a meeting at the Sri Lankan Ministry of Fisheries last week.

At the same time, two NARA employees were presented with recognition documents for a two-week course they attended at Matís in Iceland in November.

Pictured are Viggó Marteinsson, Tharangika Suvinie Dahanayake, Kumudini Sriyalatha Hettiarachchi and Hrólfur Sigurðsson.

Consumers find stressed farmed fish as good as unstressed. However, it seems profitable for producers to meet increased demands for animal welfare, says in Morgunblaðið's coverage of Emilía Martinsdóttir's speech at Matís' autumn conference. It states that animal welfare and environmentally friendly food production have increasingly aroused public interest at the same time as emphasis has been placed on establishing regulations on aquaculture.

"One of the points of view that has been in the discussion is precisely the welfare of animals in aquaculture production. It is therefore important to investigate whether different treatment of fish in relation to animal welfare actually affects the taste and properties of the product. If that is the case, it could affect consumers, "says Morgunblaðið on Thursday 6 December.

He says that in the autumn of 2006, an extensive pan-European study was carried out as part of Matís' participation in the so-called SEAFOOD plus project, which is funded by the European Union. The aim was to examine whether farmed cod, which were produced with special regard to animal welfare on the one hand and produced in the traditional way on the other, had different quality characteristics. A consumer survey was also conducted to examine whether consumers had different tastes for these products and whether different information about the fire had an effect on how consumers liked products. Such information is important for those who fish, process products from farmed fish as well as sellers, "says an article in Morgunblaðið

It also says that in Iceland the survey was divided into two parts. "On the one hand, over one hundred people came to Matís and tasted Norwegian farmed cod, and on the other hand, about seventy families brought fish home to cook and taste. A similar survey was conducted among consumers in the Netherlands and Spain at the same time," says Morgunblaðin.

Farmed cod using conventional methods was found to have a flakier and softer texture, more reminiscent of wild fish, while farmed cod produced with special animal welfare considerations was found to have a meatier and chewier texture. The consumers who came to Matís to taste fish were told that the fish they were tasting was Norwegian farmed cod, but no information was provided about the production method. "This group of consumers found farmed cod produced using traditional methods to be better than cod produced with special consideration for animal welfare. Ideally, it was the texture and the smell, which they thought was better than the traditional farmed cod," says Morgunblaðin.