Category: News

At a conference on business and innovation on the shores of Vatnajökull last weekend, the Cluster Harvest Festival was held at Smyrlabjörg on Friday night, hosted by the State of Vatnajökull and the East Skaftafellssýsla Tourism Association.

Recognitions were given on the one hand from the State of Vatnajökull and FASK, Vitinn - another guiding light, and on the other hand from the Icelandic Tourist Board.

The choice was made by the former Hotel Höfn, which has been a major pillar in the tourism industry in the area.
The lighthouse - another beacon is provided to companies or individuals who in one way or another have been a beacon to other parties in the industry.

The Icelandic Tourist Board also awarded recognition for Professional Development in Tourism and Research, the award was presented by Pétur Rafnsson on behalf of the Icelandic Tourist Board, but the award went to Nýheimar. Ari Þorsteinsson accepted the award on behalf of Nýheimar.

The award was given to all parties within Nýheimar who, on the one hand, through purposeful co-operation between themselves and on the other hand through strong and growing co-operation with companies in tourism, food and culture, as well as enthusiastic and energetic individuals and entrepreneurs, provided new strong foundations for tourism. in the State of Vatnajökull. This has further strengthened the strong tourism industry that has been built up in recent decades and is known nationally for its cohesion, courage and daring.

At the same time, systematic work has been done to build bridges to neighbors, both in the east and west as well as across the country. This applies equally to co-operation on a social level as well as on behalf of individual companies or individuals. With this, we have continued to develop the journey that the pioneers of previous years set out on a long time ago with Árni Stefánsson, hotel manager at Hótel Höfn, at the forefront.

Members of Nýheimar are: (listed in alphabetical order)
Búnaðarsamband Suðurlands
The upper secondary school in East Skaftafellssýsla
Bird Observatory in Southeast Iceland
University Center in Hornafjörður
Hornafjörður Cultural Center
Matís
The Iceland Innovation Center, formerly the East Iceland Entrepreneurship Center
State of Vatnajökull
East Iceland Knowledge Network
Naturally
In addition to these, many companies and projects have had facilities there for a longer or shorter period of time.

The use of an enzyme saves a lot of time in cleaning the liver before canning, but the enzyme dissolves the membrane on the surface of the liver and thereby releases the snakes that have prepared themselves under it. Until now, this grooming has had to be done by hand, which is very time consuming.

Matís has in collaboration with the canning factory Ice-w ehf. and Martak ehf. worked on the design and development of equipment in the processing process for enzyme treatment of liver for canning, as well as equipment for brine pickling. The aim of the project, supported by the ACP Fund, is to increase the profitability of the production of canned liver by reducing production costs and increasing the quality of products, as well as increasing the automation of production.

Enzyme treatment of the liver saves both time and manpower by cleansing the membrane and worms of the liver surface. However, it is never possible to avoid any trimming of the liver as a vein to the liver and bile-stained liver must be removed before enzyme treatment.

The design of the equipment has been completed and experiments have been made during the production process. Roughly speaking, the processing process is structured so that the liver goes to a dressing table for pre-trimming. The liver is then fed into a conveyor belt and then into a vessel with enzyme solution and the solution is circulated from a side vessel. The liver is then fed to a saline brine and from there to a dispenser that dispenses the liver into cans. Then take over the traditional canning.

The results of experiments have shown that it is possible to increase the capacity to a significant extent, in addition to which utilization increased by 20%. In 2007, about 900 tonnes of canned liver were produced in Iceland, or 9 million cans, and the value of these exports was almost ISK 320 million. This new enzyme processing method can increase this value by 20-30%.

Further information can be obtained from Ásbjörn Jónsson, project manager at Matís.

Opportunity for research and innovation was the title of the autumn conference of Rannís, which was held on 11 November at 9:00 at the Grand Hotel. The Minister of Education, Science and Culture convened the session.

The keynote speakers were Bernhard Pálsson, Kári Stefánsson, Sjöfn Sigurgísladóttir, Guðmundur Hálfdanarson, Edda Lilja Sveinsdóttir and Eggert Claessen.

Here can be seen the agenda of the session.

Lecture Sjafnar Sigurgísladóttir, CEO of Matís.

Matís is developing a new gene set based on repeated cod microsatellites from cod.

The aim of the project was to develop a new gene set based on repeated DNA microsatellites from cod. 10 genetic marker kits were to be prepared for use in breeding cod farming and also 20 genetic marker kits for the analysis of the origin of wild cod.

In addition, these diagnostic kits are useful for genotyping for traceability and species and origin analysis of eggs and larvae in the sea and for market doubts. The results of this study were recently published in Molecular Ecology Resources and can be seen in the article here.

On Friday the 7th and Saturday the 8th of November, a conference will be held in Höfn and Smyrlabjörg on business and innovation on the shores of Vatnajökull.

The conference begins with an address by the tourism director Ólafur Ýrar Atladóttir. On Friday evening, the harvest festival of the tourism industry will be held in Smyrlabjörg and starts with a dinner at 20.30.

Many interesting talks will be on the agenda and people are encouraged to attend. A lecture by Guðmundur H. Gunnarsson, project manager at Matís, can be accessed here.

As shown in the program (see here) the conference starts on Friday in Höfn but in the evening the conference will be transferred to Hotel Smyrlabjörg where the Harvest Festival of the State of Vatnajökull and the Tourism Association of A-Skaftafellssýsla will be held. Saturday's program will also take place at Smyrlabjörg.

The conference is free, but the price for the harvest festival is ISK 4,900.

Sandra Björg's participation in the conference and harvest festival must be announced by e-mail sbs@hi.is or by phone 470-8044 no later than Monday 3 November 2008.

It is possible to stay at Smyrlabjörg, but a room must be booked there, phone 478-1074.

Last Wednesday, Matís opened a food workshop in Höfn in Hornafjörður. Einar K. Guðfinnsson, Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, opened the workshop in the presence of a large crowd, but well over two hundred people attended.

Following the formal opening, guests listened to a few short lectures from Matís staff while offering refreshments made from local ingredients, such as salted fish, foals, smoked duck, ice cream, etc. but Matís has been involved in the development, design and marketing of these foods.

Matarsmiðjan is specially set up to support entrepreneurs and companies who want to start value-added small-scale production of food from Icelandic raw materials.

The picture shows Einar K. Guðfinnsson cutting a ribbon at the formal opening, but the Minister used special lobster scissors for the work. With him in the picture are Sjöfn Sigurgísladóttir, CEO of Matís, Hjalti Þór Vignisson, Mayor of Höfn and Guðmundur M. Gunnarsson, Project Manager at Matís in Höfn.

Further information can be found on Matís' website, www.matis.is.

Lecture dr. Harður G. Kristinsson from the opening.

A prototype of a software for fisheries companies is now ready, which proposes the most efficient arrangements for fishing and processing fish, can increase the value of seafood and at the same time contribute to increased profits for companies.

How can fishing and processing be managed so that the most efficient and profitable results are achieved from the operation as a whole? A detailed interview was recently published in Viðskipablaðið with Svein Margeirsson, department manager at Matís, about the FisHmark software, which is entirely Icelandic. The interview can be seen here.

Matís 'switchboard will be closed on November 4th and 5th due to the employees' autumn trip and the opening of a product development center in Höfn in Hörnafjörður.

The direct telephone number of the microbiology department is 422 5116 and the direct telephone number of the chemical department is 422 5154. Other direct telephone numbers of employees can be found on our website www.matis.is.

The service in Borgartún 21 will also be closed these days, but will be open on Skúlagata 4 and at Gylfaflöt 5.

In recent years, consumers' demand for food produced in an environmentally friendly way has increased significantly and foreign buyers of Icelandic fish therefore place great emphasis on quality and traceability in fish processing, as well as a positive image of healthy and unpolluted fish.

The aim of the project is to gather more detailed information than has previously been done on the properties of cod throughout the value chain or from the fishing grounds and in the stomach with precise traceability in mind.

Numerous measurements are made in the value chain of Icelandic seafood. Many of these measurements are carried out by public bodies for various purposes. This project is a collaboration between Matís, the Marine Research Institute, the Directorate of Fisheries, Guðmundur Runólfsson's fish processing plant and HB Grandi. With this collaboration, it is possible to achieve great efficiency by utilizing fishing, monitoring and research trips for sampling and measurement. Chemical and processing measurements are the responsibility of Matís.

The project is very diverse and is intended to answer the following questions:

1. Is there a link between the body of cod and the fat content of the liver?
2. Is there a link between liver fat content and liver index?
3. Does the fat content of the liver affect the utilization of cod in processing?
4. How does gender, age and puberty affect processing characteristics such as fillet utilization, emissions, etc. and how can such information be used in processing forecasts?
5. Can cod be a source of substances that are lacking in the diet of Icelanders?
6. Are the amounts of substances (nutrients and undesirable substances) different between fishing areas?
7. Is there a seasonal difference in the amount of substances?
8. Is there a difference between the amount of unwanted substances in processed fish and fish coming straight from the sea?
9. What is the relationship between the amount of undesirable substances in cod and its age, sex and habitat?

During the first project year, cod was collected from seven fishing trips. Thirty cod were taken each time, followed up through processing and chemical measurements, detailed information about him was recorded at all stages such as location, size, age, weight of liver, utilization, snakes, etc. In addition, water resistance and water are measured in all samples and trace elements and PCBs in selected samples. In two fishing trips (Hafróröllur) a total of 400 liver samples were taken, in which fat and water have been measured, but this information should be used, among other things, to investigate the relationship between the body of cod and the fat content of the liver.

Sampling was successful, but it has proved necessary for professionals to take the samples and perform measurements on board and in processing in order to ensure the quality of the data processed and reduce uncertainty in measurements.

After the first year, it is premature to draw conclusions from the available results. Walking processing is not complete, but it is complex as a large number of variables come into play. It is important that a sufficient number of measurements are available before conclusions are drawn. It is interesting to note, however, that the results indicate that there may be a certain difference between the sexes when utilization, snakes and emissions are examined. For example, the females appear to contain more worms than the hens, but the hens have more release on average. It will be interesting to see if the data processing shows that this is true or not.
The project manager is Ásta M. Ásmundsdóttir, a chemist at Matís ohf in Akureyri.

See more at www.avs.is.

Matís and MPF Inc. recently signed a co-operation agreement between the companies. The agreement includes the companies collaborating on joint research into the development of surimi from underutilized species such as blue whiting and capelin. An article about this is published in Fréttablaðið and can be found here.

Surimi is a fish protein mass that has been made from fish by various methods, and is a very popular product these days. Surimi is used in various products, such as crabmeat, which is widely used in sushi. The market for surimi products has grown very rapidly recently and it is estimated that demand this year is around 600 thousand tonnes, while world production is only around 480 thousand tonnes. In light of these circumstances, the price of surimi has doubled in one year. Matís and MPF see great opportunities for surimi production in Iceland, especially from species that are underused for human consumption.

However, many obstacles need to be overcome to produce quality surimi from species such as blue whiting and capelin. The co-operation agreement includes joint research that addresses these barriers, such as processing methods to reduce development problems in the final product as well as maximizing the gelation properties of the product. Matís has many years of experience in handling and processing seafood, which is very useful in this project, while MPF has extensive experience in the development and industrial production of protein products from various fish species. It is the hope of both companies that profitable surimi processing will rise in Iceland within a few years.

„The utilization of underutilized species in profitable products, such as surimi, is very important for the Icelandic fishing industry. In view of the great shortage of these products, the market is very open for the use of new species in surimi. We now need to put a lot of work into innovation in the Icelandic fisheries sector and get more for our good raw materials. This agreement is going to make a big contribution here "Says Dr. Hörður G. Kristinsson, department manager at Matís

For further information, please contact: Hörður by phone 422-5063 / 858-5063.