Author: admin

News

Matís at the Seafood Conference

The seafood conference will take place for the twelfth time next November 2 and 3 in Harpa. The Maritime Industry Conference is one of the largest annual forums for all those working in the maritime industry. 

Social responsibility in the fishing industry is the title of the 2023 Fisheries Conference, and Matís has a lot to contribute. Matís' staff will have both a wide variety of presentations at the conference and supervision of seminars.

Sæmundur Elíasson, project manager at Matís, will present the talk "Future possibilities in seafood freezing and thawing technology".  There, he will review recent developments in freezing and thawing technology for seafood and the effect on quality aspects of raw materials, such as water resistance, texture, TVB-N, lipids and proteins. The recent development of industrial solutions in freezing and thawing will be discussed, including the use of high pressure, sound waves, electromagnetic waves (eg radio and microwaves), etc. These different methods can be used alongside more traditional freezing and thawing methods (such as air blowing or immersion in liquid) to stimulate the process and achieve increased speed and maintain better quality.

Sigurjón Arason, chief engineer at Matís, delivers the talk "Freezing before and after freezing" and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of freezing seafood after different waiting times. He will also evaluate how to ensure the preservation of quality through the value chain from slaughter to consumers. When freezing seafood, it is necessary to consider the condition of the raw material, such as the time of year, handling and dead starling, freezing technology and the method used, cold storage and transport, but it is important to consider stability in the process.

Hildur Inga Sveinsdóttir, project manager at Matís, will present the talk "Side streams or side raw materials: Utilization of different streams from fish processing". During the processing of marine products, various currents with different characteristics are created. It is important to look at these trends with the same eyes, they are all raw materials. There are different opportunities for each individual, and the presentation will review the results of research on their properties, as well as discuss their potential for use, with the maximization of quality and value in mind.

Guðmundur Óli Hreggviðsson, strategic expert at Matís, gives a talk about biomass plants but it is rather a new term used to define and describe biomass processing plants. They work there mostly with underutilized biological resources, for example seaweed and kelp, offcuts and residues from the fishing industry and agriculture, offcuts from the food industry, tree cultivation and rapeseed cultivation. The products of biomass plants are rarely food, but rather valuable food supplements, pharmaceuticals, valuable chemical compounds for the chemical industry, plastics and biofuels. In addition to traditional methods, important methods of biotechnology, fermentation organisms and enzymes are used.

María Guðjónsdóttir, an expert at Matís, will give a talk on the use of hyperspectral camera technology in research and the fishing industry. Hyperspectral camera technology has gained ground in recent years within the food industry due to the wide range of applications of the technology in quality control, research and development. The hyperspectral imaging technology combines the advantages of photorefractometer technology and image processing and is therefore particularly suitable for the analysis of raw materials and products in an automated manner. With the introduction of artificial intelligence and more complex image processing solutions, more opportunities are opening up for the development of super-resolution imaging technology and the adaptation of the technology to the diverse needs of the marine industry. In the lecture, the methodology will be presented and the main advantages and limitations of the technique will be discussed based on the latest science. There will also be examples of the potential uses of technology in the marine industry, such as use in quality and defect analysis, as well as discussing the main research of recent years and where the technology may lead us in the future.

Kolbrún Sveinsdóttir, project manager at Matís, will then present the talk "Development, impact and image of fish consumption". There she will discuss the development of fish consumption over time, its effect on people's health and changes in knowledge in the context of increased consumption. Changes in the image of fish consumption that have taken place with increased research will be reviewed.

Anna Kristín Daníelsdóttir, assistant director and research and innovation director of Matís, oversees two seminars at the conference, one on food and food safety in the fishing industry and the other on maximizing value in the use of marine organisms, where both challenges and opportunities will be considered.

The program of the Maritime Industry Conference 2023 as well as a registration link and further information is available on the conference's website here:

Agenda of the Fisheries Conference 2023

Peer-reviewed articles

Impact of frozen storage on quality and cold storage stability of smoked deep-skinned fillets from well-fed Atlantic mackerel

Contact

Hildur Inga Sveinsdóttir

Project Manager

hilduringa@matis.is

To ensure year-round availability and stability of Atlantic mackerel caught in Icelandic waters during summer after intensive feeding, freezing is essential. Due to the high lipid content and sensitive lipid composition of the fish caught at this time, the fish industry requires detailed research to understand the mechanisms underlying the degradation processes occurring during storage and processing, in order to develop high-value hot-smoked products. Therefore, the impact of frozen storage at -25 ± 1.8 °C (for 6, 9, and 20 months) prior to hot-smoking, was investigated on the physicochemical, microbial, and sensory quality of deep-skinned, smoked fillets from well -fed Atlantic mackerel caught in late August. The stability of hot-smoked fillets stored at 1 ± 0.6 °C was then monitored for 28 days. Total aerobic viable counts (TVC) remained below acceptable thresholds due to the combined effects of brining, freezing, and hot-smoking, while Listeria monocytogenes was not detected in the hot-smoked products. Slow formation of oxidation products was observed during the chilled storage, especially in the fish frozen for 9 months. Minor lipid deterioration was also detected during sensory analysis, but all spoilage indices remained within acceptable thresholds for shelf-life. Frozen storage for up to 20 months thus effectively maintains the sensory acceptability and suitability of deep-skinned mackerel fillets, making them an excellent choice for the fish-smoking industry.

News

Salmon blood – a valuable by-product

Matís took part in a research project this summer that was funded by the Student Innovation Fund. The research concerns the collection and use of blood from farmed salmon, and the project was carried out in collaboration with Slippinn-DNG, Samherja fish farm, Eim and the University of Akureyri.

Three students worked on the project this summer and carried out experiments with dry bleeding of salmon in slaughter, collection and analysis of salmon blood and evaluation of the effect of different bleeding methods on fillet quality. Salmon blood was collected at slaughter using equipment specially designed and built for the project. The nutritional values of the blood were studied and the quality and shelf life of the fillets were assessed using different methods, because it is important that the quality of the fish does not deteriorate during the process.

Sæmundur Elíasson, project manager at Matís, was one of the students' supervisors in the project and presented part of its results at the 51st WEFTA conference which took place in Copenhagen on the 16th-20th. last October The West European Fish Technologists Association or WEFTA is a forum where many of Europe's leading scientists in the field of seafood research and its utilization come together and compare their books. The focus of this year's conference was "sustainable use of seafood".

The results of the project provided design criteria useful for the development of technical solutions for dry bleeding of farmed salmon and also demonstrated that the dry bleeding process used did not have a negative effect on fillet quality. It is clear that the salmon blood itself can be a valuable by-product, it has multiple possibilities for utilization, is both iron and protein rich and could be a good food supplement for people. Considerable challenges lie in its collection and storage in large quantities for use, and this project is a good first step towards increased use and value creation of salmon blood.

Matís services reduced today due to a women's strike

Drone image of Matis Vínlandsleið 12 premises

Matís will accommodate staff due to the women's strike, but will at the same time ensure that the main services will be kept running today.

Like many companies and organizations, Matís will not deduct the wages of those who participate in the women's strike.

Peer-reviewed articles

Symbiont-specific responses to environmental cues in a threesome lichen symbiosis.

Photosymbiodemes are a special case of lichen symbiosis where one lichenized fungus engages in symbiosis with two different photosynthetic partners, a cyanobacterium and a green alga, to develop two distinctly looking photomorphs. We compared gene expression of thallus sectors of the photosymbiodeme-forming lichen Peltigera britannica containing cyanobacterial photobionts with thallus sectors with both green algal and cyanobacterial photobionts and investigated differential gene expression at different temperatures representing mild and putatively stressful conditions. First, we quantified photobiont-mediated differences in fungal gene expression. Second, because of known ecological differences between photomorphs, we investigated symbiont-specific responses in gene expression to temperature increases. Photobiont-mediated differences in fungal gene expression could be identified, with upregulation of distinct biological processes in the different morphs, showing that interaction with specific symbiosis partners profoundly impacts fungal gene expression. Furthermore, high temperatures expectedly led to an upregulation of genes involved in heat shock responses in all organisms in whole transcriptome data and to an increased expression of genes involved in photosynthesis in both photobiont types at 15 and 25°C. The fungus and the cyanobacteria exhibited thermal stress responses already at 15°C, the green algae mainly at 25°C, demonstrating symbiont-specific responses to environmental cues and symbiont-specific ecological optima.

Link to article.

News

Increased sustainability of the vegetable sector in Iceland, value creation, new job opportunities and innovations

The farmer's newspaper published two articles this week that dealt with vegetable projects that have been worked on at Matís' last term. On the one hand, a project aimed at building concise knowledge of options for packaging vegetables was discussed, and on the other hand, a project aimed at making full use of the by-products of vegetable production and the potential for product development from those raw materials.

The previous article entitled "Wanting to free vegetables from plastic waste" deals with the project Challenges in packing vegetables which Ólafur Reykdal, project manager at Matís, has managed and is working in collaboration with the horticultural farmers' department in the Farmers' Association of Iceland, the Gardeners' Sales Association and the Association of Southern Municipalities with a grant from the Food Fund. It is hoped that the project will lead to progress on packaging
of various foods, although vegetables are particularly studied here and also pave the way for new types of packaging materials.
The article can be read in its entirety on page 16 of Bændablaðin and here: Bændabladlad 19 October 2023

The second article included an interview with Eva Margréti Jónudóttir, project manager at Matís, who discussed the project Valorisation of side streams from Icelandic horticulture led by Rósa Jónsdóttir, professional director of biomaterials. The project is carried out in collaboration with Orkídeu and the Icelandic Farmers' Association with funding from the Food Fund and aims to put cauliflower leaves, broccoli leaves, rose leaves, tomato leaves, cucumber leaves and carrot grass to better use than is currently done. They do this by studying nutritional value and bioactivity, but also by developing product ideas from these ingredients. The project will contribute to the sustainability of the vegetable sector in Iceland and assist in its development in relation to increased value creation, new job opportunities and innovations. The main goal of the project is to increase the value of vegetable production, improve utilization and increase sustainability.

In the interview, Eva says, among other things: ,, what stands out after this work - and what piqued her interest the most - is how many opportunities there are for further processing of this raw material. "We have been seeing quite a lot of antioxidant activity in rose leaves, which indicates that cuttings from rose cultivation can, for example, be an exciting raw material for the production of ingredients in cosmetic products." Cauliflower and broccoli leaves are somewhat less nutritious than the flower itself and there are no drawbacks to using them.
in foodstuffs".

The article can be read in its entirety on pages 32 and 33 of Bændablaðin here: Bændabladlad 19 October 2023

Peer-reviewed articles

Temporal and intra-thallus variation in arsenic species in the brown macroalga Laminaria digitata

Contact

Ásta Heiðrún E. Pétursdóttir

Project Manager

asta.h.petursdottir@matis.is

Results: In general, lower levels of total As were detected in the samples collected in May (39.2–74.5 mg kg−1) compared to those collected in February (72.6–151 mg kg−1). The concentration of arsenate was found to consistently increase along the thallus from the holdfast/stipe (0.78–1.82 mg kg−1) to the decaying fronds (44.4–61.0 mg kg−1) in both months, and AsSug-SO3 was the dominant AsSugar in the majority of samples. The extraction efficiency was lower in fresh samples (64–77%) than in freeze-dried (95–116%) from the same month. Water-soluble, polar AsLipids, and residual As concentrations, were generally highest in February, and the non-polar AsLipids accounted for <0.42% of totAs in all samples.

Peer-reviewed articles

Mollusc on the move; First record of the Newfoundland's razor clam, Ensisterranovensis Vierna & Martínez-Lage, 2012 (Mollusca; Pharidae) outside its native range

Contact

Sæmundur Sveinsson

Research Group Leader

saemundurs@matis.is

In recent years the number of non-indigenous marine species has been increasing in Icelandic waters. In May 2019, a razor shell (Ensis sp.) was found for the first time in Iceland. Since then, living and empty razor shells have been discovered at several locations in Southwest Iceland. Upon morphological examination, the specimens were thought to belong to either Ensis leei or Ensis terranovensis, both native to the east coast of North America. Molecular analysis, using COI and 16S rRNA markers,
showed that the Icelandic specimens belong to the latter species. Native populations of Ensis terranovensis have, until now, only been reported in Newfoundland, Canada. This represents the first record of E. terranovensis outside its native range. The Newfoundland's razor shell has most likely arrived in Iceland as larvae discharged with ballast water. Based on the sizes of specimens found in Iceland, the species is likely to have arrived several years prior to this first record. Presumably it has already established viable spawning populations that are likely to spread along the coast

Peer-reviewed articles

Perspectives on implementation of eDNA methods in Northeast Atlantic marine monitoring

Contact

Sæmundur Sveinsson

Research Group Leader

saemundurs@matis.is

Peer-reviewed articles

Genomic Signatures of Local Adaptation under High Gene Flow in Lumpfish—Implications for Broodstock Provenance Sourcing and Larval Production

Contact

Davíð Gíslason

Project Manager

davidg@matis.is

Aquaculture of the lumpfish (Cyclopterus lumpus L.) has become a large, lucrative industry owing to the escalating demand for "cleaner fish" to minimize sea lice infestations in Atlantic salmon mariculture farms. We used over 10K genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) to investigate the spatial patterns of genomic variation in the lumpfish along the coast of Norway and across the North Atlantic. Moreover, we applied three genome scans for outliers and two genotype–environment association tests to assess the signatures and patterns of local adaptation under extensive gene flow. With our 'global' sampling regime, we found two major genetic groups of lumpfish, ie, the western and eastern Atlantic. Regionally in Norway, we found marginal evidence of population structure, where the population genomic analysis revealed a small portion of individuals with a different genetic ancestry. Nevertheless, we found strong support for local adaptation under high gene flow in the Norwegian lumpfish and identified over 380 high-confidence environment-associated loci linked to gene sets with a key role in biological processes associated with environmental pressures and embryonic development. Our results bridge population genetic/genomics studies with seascape genomics studies and will facilitate genome-enabled monitoring of the genetic impacts of escapees and allow for genetically-informed broodstock selection and management in Norway.

EN
IS EN