Category: News

The project was funded by the Student Innovation Fund in the summer of 2008 and was carried out by Hugrún Lísa Heimisdóttir, a student who had completed her first year in biotechnology in the field of resources at the University of Akureyri. The student's project was part of a larger project, “Bætibakteríur í lúðueldi”, which was carried out in collaboration with Matís ohf., The University of Akureyri, Fiskey hf and the University of Hólar with a grant from the Technology Development Fund (2006-2008).

The aim of the project as a whole was to look for possible beneficial bacteria in the halibut farming of Fiskey hf. and which could then be added to the environment of halibut larvae for the purpose of improving the growth and performance of the larvae.

The first few weeks are the main bottleneck in halibut farming and other marine fish, but then the larvae feed on live feed animals. The forage animals carry a large number of bacteria and the larvae at this stage of development need to rely solely on a non-specific immune response. There is therefore great interest in the use of supplementary bacteria in the aim of controlling the composition of bacterial flora in the environment and gastrointestinal tract of larvae and making it more positive for the larvae.

Treatment with a mixture of three types of potential beneficial bacteria turned out to give significantly better results to halibut larvae in the early stages of rearing, and in the student's project the focus was therefore on the other side of the beneficial bacteria, ie. the aspect of the bacterial properties that can be studied and measured in the laboratory. One of the characteristics of powerful supplemental bacteria is to inhibit the growth of unwanted bacteria and the student researched this and various other properties of the bacteria. It is also important to look for cost-effective ways to produce the bacteria in large quantities and store and transport them without losing their properties. Freeze-drying is a convenient and desirable way to store and transport bacteria, and the student examined the growth of the bacteria and their growth-inhibiting effect in both fresh and freeze-dried cultures.

The main results of the project showed that the supplementary bacteria had an inhibitory effect on the growth of dominant bacteria in some samples but little or no effect on the growth of dominant bacteria in other samples. This could indicate that in some larvae the bacterial flora is rich, which has gained a good foothold there and therefore it is difficult to influence the growth of the bacteria. Therefore, it is important to treat with supplemental bacteria early in the breeding process in order for the desired bacteria to gain a foothold there. The results also indicated that the three bacterial strains grow better in the presence of each other than alone.

It can therefore be said that the student's project has shed clear light on the properties of the additive bacteria and the most suitable methods of their production for use in the early stages of halibut farming.

The project was carried out under the guidance of Rannveig Björnsdóttir, lecturer at the University of Akureyri and other experts at Matís ohf. in Akureyri. For further information, contact Rannveig at 422-5108.

The Knowledge Center of the Westman Islands invites representatives of the business community and the public to an open working meeting on 9 February at 17.00 in Alþýðuhúsið.

The aim of the meeting is to introduce the public and representatives of the business community in the Westman Islands to the activities of the Westman Islands Knowledge Center. Discussion groups will also be set up to discuss ideas for projects and how such ideas can become a reality.

Agenda:
A. Introduction of ÞSV employees to their institution or company
1. Vestmannaeyjar Knowledge Center
2. The research service
3. Matís
4. The Business Development Association

Short break

5. Náttúrustofa
6. Surtseyjarstofa
7. The Marine Research Institute
8. Whisper
9. Iceland Innovation Center

B.      Coffee break, posters and slide show

C.      Discussion groups - Let's strengthen the community through good cooperation
Fisheries and employment
Nature and tourism
Education

Three working groups where ÞSV employees and representatives from the business community lead discussions in each group and set out ideas, goals, proposals, etc. Everyone is free to participate in discussion groups.

At the end of the meeting, a short summary will be presented from each discussion group.

Meeting adjourned.

The 2009 Agricultural Research Council will take place on 12 and 13 February. in the conference room of Icelandic Genetics (previous day, fh) and in the conference rooms on the 2nd floor of Hotel Saga.

The session will offer a variety of presentations and Matís employees will deliver a number of them and make other contributions, such as leaflets and more.

Information about the conference from its organizers:

On behalf of our institutions, we invite you to the 2009 Agricultural Research Council, which will be held according to the attached agenda on 12 and 13 February. in the conference room of Icelandic Genetics (previous day, fh) and in the conference rooms on the 2nd floor of Hotel Saga.

Participants in the Research Conference who wish to stay at Hótel Saga or Hótel Íslandi are offered the following terms:

Bed and Breakfast:
Hotel Saga
Single room - ISK 8,000
Double room - ISK 9,000
Park Inn
Single room - ISK 7,000
Double room - ISK 8,000

Accommodation must be booked well in advance and it must be mentioned that this is a Research Conference. Order phone is 525 9900.

Conference fee is ISK 12,000 and includes meeting materials and coffee / tea.

The conference proceedings cost ISK 4,000 in bulk. Speakers and moderators are exempt from the fee. A draft agenda for the meeting is attached.

This time, participants in the Academic Assembly are given the opportunity to buy lunch on both days of the session at Hotel Saga. Participants are asked to register for lunch as soon as they register for the session.          

Please note that registration takes place on the website http://www.bondi.is/ and also in the house Icelandic Genetics, Sturlugata 8, Thursday 12 February at 8:15. The program starts punctually at 9:00.

The agenda of the session can be found on the website http://www.bondi.is/  and will be updated regularly.

The results obtained for Gunnþórunn Einarsdóttir's master's thesis, Matís' employee, on young people's fish consumption were recently published in the magazine Ægi.

The results of Gunnþórunn's research as a whole showed that fish consumption is below standards and that knowledge of fish is not good. Action therefore seems to be needed to get young people to eat more fish.

The article in Ægi can be seen in its entirety here.

Margeir Gissurarson, project manager at Matís, recently held a course in Ísafjörður. The course focused on shrimp processing and covered food heating, sensory evaluation and HACCP.

The course took place at the Westfjords Education Center on 15 and 16 January. sl. There was a great and good participation in the course and there was great satisfaction among the participants with how it went.

Further information about this course and more courses that Matís offers can be found at Matís educational website.

3X Technology in Ísafjörður received last year grant from the AVS Fund to develop new equipment to process marning from by-products. The main emphasis is on getting fish flesh from the ridges without the marrow being contaminated with blood.

The project is carried out in collaboration with Matís ohf and Hraðfystihúsið Gunnvör hf. Hardware will be designed that aims to maximize both the quality and utilization of the raw material.

It has been possible to produce a light marrow with a standard water content by washing the marrow in a specially designed washing drum and in order to reduce the water content, the marrow is run through a marrow press where excess water is pressed from the marrow.

The picture shows the new device from 3X Technology in Ísafjörður, which consists of a washing drum and a crusher. The project ends this year.

Matís ohf. wants to hire a cook to take care of the salad bar and soup for lunch at his office at Gylfaflöt 5 in Grafarvogur. Advertisement to that effect appeared in Morgunblaðið this weekend.

This is a 40% position and the working hours are from 11 to 14.

Further information:
Ragnar Jóhannsson, tel. 422 5106 or ragnar.johannsson@matis.is
Sigríður Hjörleifsdóttir, tel. 422 5113 or sigridur.hjorleifsdottir@matis.is

Applications should be sent to Jón H. Arnarson, Matís' human resources manager, at the e-mail address jon.h.arnarson@matis.is.

Click here to see advertised jobs at Matís and to fill out a general job application.

The management of the Wholefoods Market retail chain came to Matís recently and got to know the company's operations.

Wholefoods Market (www.wholefoodsmarket.com/) is a large US retail chain that began operations in the state of Texas in 1980. The retail chain has operations in over 270 stores in the United States and in England and is best known for selling food that has been as little involved in production as possible. For example, the retail chain's selection of organically grown foods is among the best known in the world. The company has also placed great emphasis on knowing where food comes from and has been particularly interested in origin labeling. Wholefoods Market's visit to Matís was, among other things, precisely for the purpose of getting to know food labeling better, but Matís has been at the forefront of research in this area.

The next day, Baldvin Jónsson, who is Iceland's liaison with Wholefoods Market, gave a very interesting lecture for Matís employees on the chain's operations and the company's value. This lecture aroused great interest in the opinion of some who listened that many of the practices and values of Wholefoods Market could be modeled in this country.

Attached are photos from the visit.

The management of the Wholefoods Market retail chain came to Matís recently and got to know the company's operations.

The fishing company Cumbrian Seafoods took over almost two years ago a new fish processing house in Seatham on the east coast of Britain. The building is particularly technologically advanced by British standards, but this 250-person company supplies many of the UK's largest retailers with seafood.

Cumbrian seafood puts a lot of effort into making their production as consistent as possible with modern requirements for the sustainability of the entire life cycle of the product they produce, so they have now decided to install windmills that will supply the fish processing house with all the electricity it needs. In this way, they expect to be able to virtually eliminate the "carbon footprint" of the processing.

The demand from retailers and consumers in the UK for an improved flow of information regarding carbon production in the production of various products has increased enormously in recent months, and Cumbrian Seafoods has decided to make this investment, even though they believe that their electricity costs will increase as a result.

Subsequently, the question is whether we should not, to a greater extent than has been done so far, implement the thinking of life cycle analysis (LCA) in the production and labeling of seafood. This is an issue that Matís has been very interested in in recent months and the company is interested in promoting the introduction of life cycle analysis in the production of Icelandic food.

ISI magazine Aquaculture recently published an article by Rannveiga Björnsdóttir, director of aquaculture and lecturer at the University of Akureyri. Four experts at Matís are co-authors of the article entitled "Survival and quality of halibut larvae (Hippoglossus hippoglossus L.) in intensive farming: possible impact of the intestinal bacterial community".

The article discusses the number and composition of the bacterial flora of halibut larvae related to the growth, quality and decline of larvae in the early stages of rearing. Halibut is a high quality fish that is well priced in the markets and is therefore an important species in aquaculture. There are large losses in the early stages of breeding and they have been linked to bacterial stress, although the effects of individual species are poorly defined and therefore debatable. It was therefore decided to start mapping the bacterial flora of halibut larvae in all production units at Fiskey hf. during a certain period. The main results showed great variability in the number and composition of bacteria in the larvae and there were indications that certain species were only found in larvae from breeding units where the survival and quality of larvae were above average. Bacterial species that have not been previously identified in halibut were also found. The study also showed that there was a link between the number of cultivable bacteria and a certain defect, which means that the larvae are not able to feed.

The article as a whole can be accessed here.

Other articles from Matís employees as well as other publications, reports, leaflets etc. can be found here.