Category: News

Another conference on environmental pollution in Iceland will be held on Friday 22 March 2013 in Nauthól, Reykjavík.

Emphasis will be placed on the effects of water utilization, land utilization and pollution in water and sea.

Further information:
Admission is free, but as the number of seats is limited, it is important to register. Please send your name, company and email address to environ@matis.is. The last day to register is March 20, 2013.

The conference proceedings will not be distributed on site, but an electronic version can be obtained for printing here on the site within a few days.

Planning Committee:

• Gunnar Steinn Jónsson, Environment Agency, gunnar@ust.is
• Sophie Jensen, Matís, sophie@matis.is
• Gísli Jónsson, The Icelandic Radiation Protection Authority, gj@gr.is
• Gerður Stefánsdóttir, Icelandic Meteorological Office, gerdur@vedur.is

Scientific Committee:

• Hrund Ólöf Andradóttir, University of Iceland
• Kristín Ólafsdóttir, University of Iceland
• Gunnar Steinn Jónsson, Environment Agency
• Hermann Sveinbjörnsson, Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources
• Anna Kristín Daníelsdóttir, Matís
• Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir, Matís
• Hrönn Jörundsdóttir, Matís
• Sigurður Emil Pálsson, Icelandic Radiation Protection Authority
• Gerður Stefánsdóttir, Icelandic Meteorological Office
• Sólveig Rósa Ólafsdóttir, Marine Research Institute

Matís conducted an informal survey on University Day as to whether visitors and pedestrians could distinguish between horsemeat and beef.

In short, the participants in 50% were able to guess the correct type of meat. Furthermore, about 40% respondents thought the horsemeat was better meat.

Is whitefish, such as cod and haddock, from the North Atlantic better food than cheap competitive raw materials from Asia and Africa? Is the environmental impact of fishing for cod and haddock less than that of competing products?

These questions and many others are tried to answer in the Whitefish project led by Icelanders, but other participants are from Norway, Sweden, the UK and the Netherlands, for example. On Wednesday 13 March, Matís ohf. at Vínlandsleið 12 in Reykjavík, an open workshop in the project.

"Based on the experience gained regarding the eco-labeling of marine products, information such as this is most important for wholesalers and retailers of the product. Few consumers make an effort to immerse themselves in these aspects, but they trust that the person who sells them seafood is offering a product that has an acceptable environmental impact. Large retail chains have their own criteria in this regard, and with the WhiteFish project we are taking a step even further than is done with "traditional" eco-labels and calculating the environmental impact for the entire value chain of the products ", says Jónas Rúnar Viðarsson, Matís's specialist manager.

"In recent months, wild fish from the North Atlantic have faced increased competition in markets from cheap farmed fish from Asia and Africa, such as pangasius and tilapia. With the WhiteFish project, we hope to be able to show that our fish have less environmental impact than this competitive product, after all. "

There is a lot at stake, as there is fierce competition in this market, and it is important to work hard to ensure that we deliver to potential buyers that it is more than the price that matters when there is fish on the one hand.

For further information Jónas R. Viðarsson.

Matís invites students to visit on Friday 15 March at 15-17: 30. This is a good place to get acquainted with the food and biotechnology industry, whether you are planning to go on to graduate school or get acquainted with job opportunities after graduation.

Further information can be found at Steinar B. Aðalbjörnsson Matís marketing manager.

University Day 2013 will take place tomorrow. There will be a lot of fun at the University of Iceland, where students, teachers and Matís staff will offer the Meat Challenge 2013 at the booth of the Faculty of Food and Nutrition at Háskólatorg,

The meat challenge takes place between 13 and 14:30. The purpose of the challenge is to allow Icelanders to assess whether they find a difference between horsemeat on the one hand and beef on the other, but also to arouse interest in the projects that food scientists around the world are working on.

There are great opportunities in Icelandic food production and Icelanders are realizing that. It is possible to build up lasting value in the food and biotechnology industry, whether this is intended with exports in mind or as a supplement to what Iceland has to offer all year round, for example in travel-related food production.

For further information Steinar B. Aðalbjörnsson, marketing director of Matís.

More about food science: www.framtidarnam.is

More about University Day 2013: www.haskoladagurinn.is/

On Wednesday 13 March, Matís ohf. at Vínlandsleið 12 in Reykjavík, an open workshop in the WhiteFish project, which is funded by the European Union's 7th research program.

The project aims to develop methodologies and software that enable producers of cod and haddock products in a simple way to carry out assessments of the sustainability and environmental impact of their products. Icelandic companies and organizations play a key role in the project, but in addition Norwegian, Swedish, British and Dutch parties are involved in the project. 

There is a growing demand for green accounting in international trade, and many of the world's largest retail chains have already announced that seafood producers who keep green accounts have priority in their purchases. For small and medium-sized businesses, meeting such requirements can be extremely costly and complicated.

The project is called WhiteFish and is a so-called "research project for the benefit of associations of small and medium-sized companies". The project, funded by the Seventh Framework Program of the European Union, will run for three years and has a total budget of almost three million Euros.

"The goal of the WhiteFish project is to ensure that small and medium-sized companies in the cod and haddock value chain have access to solutions that will help them keep track of the many positive qualities of whitefish from the Northeast Atlantic. This will probably give producers an advantage in the market ", says Petter Olsen from the food research institute Nofima in Norway, who is leading the project.

The WhiteFish project is owned by five industry associations from Iceland, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The association employs more than 1,200 small and medium-sized companies that have interests in fishing and processing of cod and haddock.

Four value chains of cod and haddock products within the aforementioned countries have been selected and will be subject to a life cycle analysis (LCA). This analysis will calculate the environmental impact of the products in each link in the value chain. Subsequently, methodologies and equipment will be developed that enable manufacturers to calculate the environmental impact in a simple way, with the use of traceability. The equipment will then be verified within the project.

The WhiteFish project has now been going on for over a year and at the working meeting various preliminary results will be announced and contributions will be sought for the continued progress of the project from those who are interested.

The meeting is open to everyone and participation is free, but those who intend to participate are asked to announce their participation to jonas.r.vidarsson@matis.is

More information can be found on the project's website www.whitefishproject.org or Jónas R. Viðarsson, tel. 422-5107

The spring session of the Icelandic Society of Microbiology will be held on Wednesday 6 March 2013. It should also be noted that the association is currently celebrating its 25th anniversary.

The meeting will be held at Matís' premises at Vínlandsleið and will take place from 20:00 to 22:00. At the session, members of the Icelandic Society of Microbiology present their recent research with a poster and a short presentation.

The conference is open to anyone interested in microbial research in Iceland.

Ahead is the scientific conference of agriculture, which will be held at the Agricultural University of Iceland in Hvanneyri on Friday 8 March.

It is clear from the agenda that a very interesting discussion is expected there, including the utilization of land and products. Guðjón Þorkelsson and Kolbrún Sveinsdóttir from Matís will give a talk in a seminar on "Sustainable production and home production of food", but you can read more about the agenda of the conference on the website Shrine.

For further information Guðjón Þorkelsson at Matís.

At the turn of the month, there will be changes in Matís' operations in the field of chemical analysis. The aim of the changes is to increase financial efficiency and further strengthen the professional basis of chemical analysis. Unfortunately, there has been a sharp decline in public procurement in the field of food control-related chemicals, despite increased demands following the introduction of food legislation in 2011.

It is important for Matís to ensure the utmost efficiency in operations, without compromising the professional aspects of these specialized measurements. The development of equipment for pesticide measurements, which Matís has financed with grant applications, is now imminent, but in order for it to be possible to operate such equipment, it is necessary that all expertise is utilized as much as possible. Therefore, expertise in the field of chemical analysis is gathered in one place in Reykjavík. Pesticide testing of fruits and vegetables is very important to ensure consumer safety.

Matís' high rent at Borgir has also affected this result, but there are no final decisions on other changes to the company's operations in Akureyri. Matís has emphasized having strong operations in most parts of the country, as can be seen in the number of the company's offices.

The positive results of Matís' biotechnology research in recent years on algae and the bioactivity of the substances in them laid the foundation for the company Marinox, which has now started operations.

The first products are skin products under the UNA brand. They are already on the market in Iceland, but there are also plans for the production of food supplements and additives for the food industry in the future.

Hörður Kristinsson, division manager at Matís and Rósa Jónsdóttir, division manager, were responsible for founding the company in collaboration with Matís.

"It can be said that Marinox is a formal channel for our research and a logical continuation of research for many years. In 2007, we started screening for algae substances with antioxidant activity, and those studies led us to the brown algae bubble seaweed, which we decided to work with better. We have now reached the point where we have isolated bioactive substances from the bubble seaweed that we have experimented with as a food supplement in food processing and for the production of UNA skin products. The antioxidant activity helps the skin to counteract the undesirable effects we experience in our environment, counteracts the aging of the skin and so on, "says Rósa." has of consumption.

"The idea with Marinox is to produce food supplements and ingredients for food producers, but also to develop our own products that contain these positive bioactive substances. With UNA skincare, we have therefore taken a new step in the process, but research on algae and the bioactivity of substances in them will continue with us, as this is a great resource that Icelanders can use in the future, "says Rósa Jónsdóttir, professional director.