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In the fan version of Ægis, which was published on the occasion of 100 years of Iceland's sovereignty, the career of Sigurjón Arason, Matís' chief engineer and professor of food engineering at the University of Iceland, was discussed in detail. Here are a few snippets from the interview.

Sigurjón started plowing in the cold store in Norðfjörður when he was 10 years old and Sigurjón tried his hand at seafaring with his father during his teenage years in Hornafjörður and that was the beginning of his studies related to the fishing industry.

"Ever since I was on the boat in Hornafjörður in the past, it has been my motto that everything we fish should be handled correctly and well. Fish is a delicate raw material and difficult to handle, "says Sigurjón.

During his university years, Sigurjón worked for the State Fisheries in the summer and went, among other things, between all the cold stores in Iceland, 1972-1974, which then numbered over two hundred, to monitor the hygiene. The purpose was to prepare a new regulatory framework in this area, the so-called Red Handbook, and thereby meet the standards required by fish buyers in the United States.

After graduating from university, first in chemistry from the University of Iceland and then process engineering at the University of Copenhagen (DTU), Sigurjón joined Atlas Sabroe.

At the end of September 1978, Sigurjón was invited to come home and take over the position of head of the technical department of the Fisheries Research Institute. He accepted the offer. From the very first months, he started teaching fish industry technology and food engineering at the University of Iceland, and since then he has taught at both the University of Iceland and the University of Akureyri.

As is well known, the Fisheries Research Institute merged into Matís at the time, but a common thread in the daily projects of Sigurjón and colleagues has always been to improve processing processes and increase the value of seafood.

Everything is based on the same theories

"One of the things we worked on at that time was cooling the blue whiting to minus one degree, supercooling, to stop the decomposition. The blue whiting fishery ceased shortly afterwards, but the knowledge was used by us again a few years ago when mackerel began to be fished here by land in the jurisdiction during the summer. We also managed to develop a technology that made it possible to create great value from mackerel even though it was not at the most suitable time for processing. But in addition to knowledge that has been built on processing technology, refrigeration technology has also advanced over the years and created a basis for improving the quality of raw materials, "says Sigurjón.

"We are thus always hammering the same theories into the foundation and using them in, for example, research and student projects that are returned directly to the discipline."

Quality thinking in the fisheries sector is quite common in the industry today, but we still always need to sharpen it and be aware of issues that need to be fixed, for example in terms of fish handling, icing, bleeding and more. "

Inexhaustible opportunities for increased value creation

With the shortening of the vessels' fishing trips, Sigurjón says that a basis has been created for the production and export of fresh fish, which has since become an important part of demersal fish processing in Iceland in recent years.

"Developments in white fish have been very rapid and we have come a long way. But there are still endless opportunities to do better, and my message to the government is to spit again in terms of contributions to the AVS research fund on increasing the value of seafood, which has been a financial issue in recent years. The companies in the industry see that the way to take advantage of the opportunities and possibilities is based on knowledge and research. That foundation must therefore be strengthened. "

Photographer: Kristinn Ingvarsson / UI

A very interesting collaborative project between Dermos and Matís has just begun, where the intention is, among other things, to study the effects of fats from halibut, for example on skin diseases.

When Guðbjörn Björnsson, co-owner of Dermos, was a district doctor in the East Fjords, several years ago, he heard people talking about fishmongers, who recovered greatly from psoriasis and eczema when they worked barefoot with halibut. He then decided, in consultation with a dermatologist, to make a fertilizer from the fat of halibut. The fertilizer was tested on patients with these skin diseases and a good recovery was achieved, but due to a lot of fish and the smell of fish oil, they stopped the tests. Fatty acid treatment has been widely used since this experiment was performed.

The aim of the project is to make fertilizer from fatty halibut, limit the smell that was previously too strong and create a natural fertilizer that can treat the disease more effectively than other substances on the market.

The project is funded by the Technology Development Fund and project management at Dermos.

The drawing of the halibut is by Jón Baldur Hlíðberg, fauna.is

Panoramic Bioeconomy Panel (e. West Nordic Bioeconomy Panel) has set out five strategic priority objectives and proposed related key actions with the aim of promoting innovation and sustainable value creation within the long-term northern bioeconomy.

These key actions are considered to be sensible and realistic, the next step is to make them a reality. All stakeholders are therefore encouraged to put their ambition into action, including politicians, government agencies and companies. By doing so, the communities in the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland will contribute to achieving the United Nations' goals of sustainable development. 

In 2015, the Panel on the Bioeconomy in the North was established with the aim of proposing and disseminating a realistic policy for the maintenance and strengthening of the countries' bioeconomy in the north. The work has been funded by the North Atlantic Partnership (NORA).

The bioeconomy is a business activity that revolves around products and services based on life resources. It involves the utilization of life resources and increased value added of primary production from life resources, products and the use of side streams from the value chains of life resources.

Marine life resources play a key role in the northern bioeconomy; Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland. Here the bioeconomy differs from the bioeconomy of many other countries; The countries in the north are largely dependent on biomass transport, which is processed to a limited extent, for example frozen seafood. The potential for value added increases with more processing and proximity to the market. With more processing, it is also possible to utilize sidestreams, increase utilization and create jobs. That is why innovation that increases the processing and production of more valuable products is especially important in the North. At the same time, high labor costs, stray farms and demographic changes are affecting the region's innovative capacity.

The Nordic countries can contribute to greater sustainability in food processing and utilization, but this requires investment in infrastructure related to food security, which is a prerequisite for food trade. The import of food, feed and fertilizer to the area indicates an opportunity for increased self-sufficiency, especially by taking advantage of by-products in all areas.

The strategic priorities and main actions proposed here to, are steps in that direction.

The West Nordic Bioeconomy Panel report can be found here.

Matís' role and role in education and training of students is great and the company has strong connections with many reputable foreign universities.

Many domestic and foreign students from all over the world have benefited from the guidance of Matís researchers and the excellent facilities that the company can offer students. They consider Matís an exciting option due to how well the company is connected to both the university environment and companies, as most of the student projects are of the nature that scientific projects are being carried out with practicality in mind.

Attached is a picture of the foreign students who are in Matís at the beginning of 2019, but they are from Aruba, Denmark, England, France, Italy and Germany.

For many decades, the herring industry was one of the most important industries in the Icelandic nation, and entire communities relied on herring every year. Although there was more talk about catches, huge investments, slack, bankruptcy, collapse and the impact of herring on human life, rather than know-how and product quality, it was the knowledge that made the difference in prices and markets.

In the beginning, the knowledge came from outside, but little by little it became a work skill that made Icelandic processed herring sought after and valuable. Manufacturers and retailers took good care of the knowledge and made sure that it did not fall into the hands of foreign competitors, thereby damaging the competitive position of Icelandic producers.

Manufacturers had harmonized production instructions and unreservedly supported research at the Fisheries Research Institute, while at the same time pursuing strong product development and various experimental activities. The knowledge and skills are then reflected in detailed production instructions issued by SÚN (Herring Industry Committee) and distributed to producers all over the country.

Dr. Jónas Bjarnason, a chemical engineer who worked at the Fisheries Research Institute, worked diligently to disseminate knowledge to producers of Icelandic seafood. He was responsible, for example, for publishing manuals on the effects of salted fish and catfish, as well as various publications on important aspects of the production of seafood.

Around 1990, Dr. Jónas mostly finished writing a handbook on the effect of herring, but it was not considered in the interests of the whole to publish all this detailed information that Jónas had compiled, and therefore the material appeared in IFL's archive system.

This handbook that is published here is for the most part based on Jónas' material and it must be admitted that it was easier to embark on this work with all this material at hand, systematically set up and full of pictures with captions.

There have been enormous changes in the product composition of the herring since Jónas wrote his handbook, but then about 2/3 of the exported herring products were salted herring, but in recent years herring is processed at about 1% of the total amount. The knowledge presented here is perhaps still valuable as a result, as it is important to maintain the knowledge, even though it may be of use to fewer parties than was initially intended.

The manual is available here.

Matís recently received special recognition from the Icelandic Ocean Cluster for its strong collaboration with numerous entrepreneurial companies within the cluster.

The recipients of the awards have in common that they have contributed to stronger collaboration between people within the Sjávarklasan in Iceland and contributed to increased value creation in the entrepreneurial community that has existed in the Sjávarklasan building.

Matís received recognition for strong collaboration with numerous entrepreneurial companies within the Sjávarklass. A news item published on Sjávarklasan's website states, among other things, that “the knowledge that Matís' staff has to offer and the kindness that these experts have shown to many entrepreneurs has been exemplary. Matís' leadership has shown how important collaboration between research and entrepreneurship is. "

Fish in fish oil is one of the quality measurements in raw fish oil for the export of fish oil and has been measured at Matís and previously IFL (Rannsóknastofnun fiskiðnaðarins) for more than 40 years. The old measurement was based on distillation with toluene and the measurement took 2-3 hours in total, but toluene is a dizzying substance both dangerous to human health and the environment and therefore a lot of work to get rid of this measurement.

Last year, another method was introduced that is faster and works in a closed system where employees do not have to deal with hazardous substances. This is Karl-Fisher titration with automatic titration (see picture). The measurement takes much less time and is less dangerous for both staff and the environment, in addition to which it is part of the automation of the laboratory. It is possible to recommend much greater accuracy than before and greater sensitivity. It is also possible to measure in liquids other than fish oil with this device and this is usually the case if desired water is not measured in large quantities. The measurement is best suited for measuring water levels from 0.1%-1%.

Knowledge and communication are an integral part of innovation and added value. The amount of value per kilogram of each piece of information yields is invaluable because it can easily be stated that without knowledge and know-how, no value will be created.

We at Matís have made a significant contribution when it comes to education in food science and product processing, and now another handbook is published, this time full of information about layer processing and layer products. Matís funded the preparation of the handbook with support from the AVS Fisheries Research Fund. In this context, it is worth pointing out that Ora hf, Akraborgin ehf and Hraðfrystihúsið Gunnvör contributed to making the best use of the manual for layered companies. 

Layered products are in many respects technically complex products and therefore need a really good understanding of the importance of the processing components so that there is no danger to consumers. To achieve this long shelf life of laminate products, nothing can go wrong, for example the importance of factors such as the closing of cans, the welding itself, temperature and time, sterilization, preservation and cooling when appropriate, and so on. No discount should be given in the production of these products because small deviations can have very dramatic consequences.

Páll Gunnar Pálsson, the author of the material, worked for many years as a quality and production manager at the Norðurstjörn canning factory in Hafnarfjörður, but this is the seventh handbook that Páll Gunnar has compiled. They can all be accessed free of charge on Matís' website. 

It was invaluable to get Einar Þór Lárusson, an expert at ORA, to be part of this project to share his vast experience and knowledge. But Einar Lárusson has worked in lagmetis and fish processing companies for decades in production, but last but not least in various product development and innovation projects.

The Lagmetish handbook, which is the latest copy in Matís' library, can be accessed here . The Lagmetish handbook was funded by Matís, with support AVS Fisheries Research Fund.

Icelandic seafood contains an insignificant amount of undesirable substances - but scientific data on undesirable substances in Icelandic seafood are a key factor in demonstrating the status of Icelandic seafood, e.g. safety and health.

It's out Matís report summarizing the results of continuous monitoring of undesirable substances in seafood from the 2018 resource.

The monitoring began in 2003 with the help of the then Ministry of Fisheries, the current Ministry of Industry and Innovation, and Matís was responsible for collecting data and publishing reports for this systematic monitoring during the period 2003-2012. 

Due to lack of funds, this important data collection was suspended as well as the publication of results in the period 2013-2016. The project resumed in March 2017, but due to a lack of funds, it now only covers the monitoring of undesirable substances in edible seafood from the resource intended for human consumption, and not fishmeal and fish oil for feed. For the same reason, no chemical analyzes were performed on PAH, PBDE and PFC substances this time.

The aim of the project is to demonstrate the position of Icelandic seafood in terms of safety and health and to use the data in the risk assessment of food to ensure the interests of consumers and public health. The project builds a knowledge base on the amount of undesirable substances in economically important species and marine products, it is defined as a long-term project where expansion and revision is constantly necessary.

High quality and well defined Scientific data on undesirable substances in Icelandic seafood are key factors in demonstrating the status of Icelandic seafood, including safety and health. The export of Icelandic food depends on being able to demonstrate their safety, taking into account laws, regulations and market requirements. Scientific data from independent researchers is also important in market presentations of seafood for potential buyers and strengthens all marketing work for Icelandic seafood. The data are also used for risk assessment of food and to influence the setting of maximum levels for contaminants in food.

This time, 18 samples of seafood were taken from the resource, for the first time samples of kingfisher and sea otters were taken, also 2 samples of shrimp and 1 of cod were taken as well as 13 samples of traditional edible fish.

In general, the results obtained in 2018 were in line with previous results from 2003 to 2012 as well as 2017. The results showed that Icelandic seafood products generally contain insignificant amounts of persistent organic pollutants such as dioxins, PCBs and pesticides.

In this report, the maximum levels of the European Union (EU) for dioxins, dioxin-like PCBs (DL-PCBs) and non-dioxin-like PCBs (NDL-PCBs) in food were according to Regulation no. 1259/2011 used to assess how Icelandic seafood meets EU requirements. The results for 2018 show that all samples of seafood for human consumption were well below the EU maximum values for persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals. The concentration of so-called ICES6-PCBs turned out to be low in edible parts of seafood, compared to the EU maximum value according to Regulation no. 1259/2011. The results also showed that the concentration of heavy metals, such as cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg) in Icelandic seafood was always below the EU maximum values.

Photo: Stefán Þór Eysteinsson