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Matís (Matvælarannsóknir Íslands) is working on projects that will benefit Icelandic exporters in meeting Tesco's requirements for carbon dioxide labeling of food.

Tesco, one of the UK's largest retail chains, intends to carbon label all products sold in the chain's stores in order to enable consumers to obtain information on the amount of carbon dioxide emissions that have accompanied the product's production, transport to the store and sales. This is Tesco's program aimed at responding to climate change.

Sveinn Margeirsson, department manager at Matís, says that the discussion on carbon dioxide labeling of food is part of the discussion on sustainable development. "Matís manages a West Nordic project called 'Sustainable Food Information', which aims to make it easier for companies in the food industry, such as fisheries companies, to demonstrate sustainability in fishing, processing and sales. Participants in the project will meet in Iceland on 14 June with Icelandic and Faroese fisheries companies, where the topic of discussion is the opportunities that lie in sustainable development for the Icelandic fisheries. "

Sustainable development important for the Icelandic food industry

"Sellers and consumers demand that it can be demonstrated that the production of marine products is in such a way that fish stocks are not depleted or that large emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) accompany the production. The Tesco program is simply one of many examples of developments in this area. It is my opinion that sustainable development will be one of the key issues for the Icelandic food industry in the future, as we have more projects in this field in the pipeline. ”

Sveinn says that in this connection it is important to be able to show how the product has gone through the value chain, otherwise it is not possible to say how much the "life cycle" of the product has increased the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

"It's not enough to focus on one link in the value chain. In the UK today, there is considerable debate about carbon dioxide emissions from the transport of organically grown fruit from distant parts of the world. Are the environmental effects of such foods positive or negative? One way to compare foods in this regard is the so-called life cycle analysis (LCA). In order to be able to apply it, it is necessary to be able to trace the product's path through the value chain, where Icelandic fisheries companies are well positioned. One of the practical possibilities of this strong position is to be able to demonstrate the carbon dioxide emissions associated with the production of the products. "

There is great interest in an international workshop on sustainability in the fisheries sector, which will take place in Sauðárkrókur on 14 June. About 20 people from companies in the Faroe Islands are expected to come to Iceland in connection with the workshop. The workshop is part of a West Nordic project called "Sustainable Food Information", which aims to make it easier for companies in the food industry, such as fisheries companies, to demonstrate sustainability in fishing, processing and sales.

Consumers abroad are increasingly demanding that seafood sellers base their fishing on sustainability; that marine resources are not depleted and that pollution from fishing, processing and transport of marine products is kept to a minimum. Products based on sustainability are therefore very important for manufacturers in the future because they are tickets to high-quality or expensive retail chains abroad.

Great emphasis is also placed on traceability in the discussion on sustainability in the fishing industry. Traceability provides accurate information about the product and sellers who have a quality product can differentiate themselves better from others in the market. Traceability is therefore an important link in the eco-labeling of marine products.

More about the workshop here.

Crowds have made their way to the Festival of the Sea on the central bank in Reykjavík this weekend. There, companies and institutions present their activities and services to guests. Among the things on offer in the middle bank is a so-called sensory assessment at Matís (Matvælarannsóknir Íslands) where guests are given the opportunity to guess the smell from scented glasses and look at different old fish, on the one hand new and then on the other hand a few days old, with regard to freshness, texture and smell.

Sensory evaluation is an essential part of food quality control. In sensory evaluation, the human senses, i.e. visual, olfactory, taste, hearing and touch senses used to assess food quality. Sensory evaluation is not only used in food but also in connection with the development of perfumes, hygiene products and in the automotive industry, for example.

The festival of the sea ends this afternoon, Sunday.

Photo: Guests inspect fish of different ages at Matís' booth at Hátíð hafsins.

A few days ago, a small group of employees from Lýsir hf. on a course in sensory assessment at Matís. The aim of the course was to train the employees in methods for assessing the quality of fish oil.

The course covered sensory assessment, basic flavors and sensory assessment methods, and the staff also received practical training in the use of methods for assessing the smell and taste of fish oil.
Sensory evaluation is a systematic evaluation of the smell, taste, appearance and texture of food.

Sensory Evaluation is a necessary part of quality control. In sensory evaluation, the human senses, i.e. visual, olfactory, taste, hearing and touch senses used to assess food quality. Sensory evaluation in the Icelandic food industry has for a long time been conducted in an organized manner, especially as part of quality control.

For many years, Matís has assisted companies in setting up sensory evaluation, provided advice in sensory evaluation and carried out shelf life research in cases where sensory evaluation is a very important factor.

Those companies that are interested in using this Matís service are advised to contact Emilía Marteinsdóttir by phone: 422 5032 or by e-mail emilia.martinsdottir@matis.is

Iceland is a member of the European Network of Excellence on the chemical content of food and means of disseminating information through databases and the Internet. The project is called EuroFIR and is part of the EU's 6th Framework Program. Matís manages the Icelandic part of the project and now there is a two-day meeting in the project, which is held at Matís' premises on Skúlagata 4. The meeting discusses bioactive substances in food, but work is being done on a special European database on these substances.

Hannes Hafsteinsson, project manager at Matís, will take care of this part of the project and chair the meeting.

The project EuroFIR (European Food Information Resource Network) started in 2005 and ends in 2009 and the participants are 40 institutions from 21 European countries, but the project is supervised by the Institute of Food Research in Norwich in the UK. The aim of the project is to build a comprehensive and accessible database on the ingredients of European foods, in terms of their nutritional value and recent bioactive substances that may have health-promoting effects.

Matvælarannsóknir Keldnaholt (Matra) was originally the Icelandic participant and Matís has now taken on this role. A co-operation network was established in Iceland for the project with the participation of IFL (now Matís), the Laboratory of Nutrition at the University of Iceland, the Public Health Institute, the Environment Agency and Hugsjár ehf. Ólafur Reykdal, Matís, is the project manager of the Icelandic section.

Some of the objectives of the EuroFIR project are:

Harmonization of European databases on the chemical content of foods.
Data globalization.
Increased data quality and Europe will be a world leader in this field.

The importance of the project for Icelanders lies in the following factors:

The project strengthens Icelanders professionally by direct comparison with what is done abroad.
Increased demands will be made on data on the chemical content of food and this will benefit users (consumers, industries, researchers, schools, etc.). Working with food traditions and bioactive substances can shed light on the uniqueness of Icelandic food. Relations with foreign researchers and institutions are important.
The project is a good example of the need for domestic parties to join forces to participate in large foreign projects.

Iceland participates in work on six sub-projects of the EuroFIR project:

1. Development, coordination and networking of databases on the chemical content of foods.

Methods for evaluating the composition of processed foods.

3. Composition and production of traditional foods

4. Evaluation of bioactive material data.

The Icelandic database on the chemical content of food (ÍSGEM) was a key factor when working on getting into the project. The development of the database began at the Agricultural Research Institute in 1987, but is now stored at Matís.

Further information on the EuroFIR project can be obtained from Ólafur Reykdal and Hannes Hafsteinsson.EuroFIR website