Category: News

On June 18, a meeting was held in Iceland under the auspices of the SAFEFOODERA EraNet project, which is an international collaborative project aimed at strengthening food security. The project is part of the European Union's 7th Research Program (EU 7th RÁ), but one of the key elements in RÁR 7 is the development of the European Research Area (ERA).

A group of almost 50 people came to Iceland to attend the meeting and the group's Iceland visit began with a visit to Matís 'headquarters by Borgartún, where he learned about Matís' activities and enjoyed an evening refreshment with a view of the blue channel.

Among those who spoke on this occasion was Sigurgeir Þorgeirsson, Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, and then Oddur Már Gunnarsson, Director of Matís, who welcomed the group to Iceland. Johs Kjosbakken from the Norwegian Research Council (RCN), chairman of the SAFEFOODERA steering group, and Mads Peter Schreiber from NICe also spoke. They made a good noise to the country and the people on arrival and said they were looking forward to their stay. After short speeches, the guests returned refreshments and then headed for Stykkishólmur, where the meeting was held.

It should be noted that grant applications from the SAFEFOODERA project have been advertised and Matís intends to submit applications. The application deadline is 15 September 2008.

The picture shows Johs Kjosbakken (left) and Sigurgeir Þorgeirsson.

Until now, mackerel has not been considered a commercial stock in Icelandic waters, as its habitat is mainly off the East Coast of North America, in the North Sea, the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. In recent years, however, Icelandic herring fishing vessels have become increasingly aware of mackerel, and vessels have caught mackerel mixed with Norwegian-Icelandic herring east of the country in late summer. Mackerel is a very valuable fish and the price is often over 100 ISK / kg. for fresh autumn fish caught in processing and for frozen gutted fish caught during the summer. At Matís, a project called Fishing, sorting, processing and markets for mackerel caught by pelagic vessels is now being launched.

The aim of this project is to study the fishing of pelagic fishing vessels for mackerel in Icelandic waters, make measurements of shape, come up with solutions on how to sort the mackerel from other fish on board and how to process it in freezer vessels. The equipment options necessary for the processing will be analyzed, and markets for mackerel caught in Icelandic waters will also be explored according to the seasons. The aim is for the project to produce frozen Icelandic mackerel products, but they have not been produced so far.
 
Fisheries will be able to use the results of the project as support if they intend to start mackerel fishing with herring fishing in Iceland, this project will also prepare the fisheries if the growing mackerel supply in Icelandic waters proves to be long-term.

Project manager is Ragnheiður Sveinþórsdóttir.

Attached are the research emphases and application guidelines. There are a total of 6 million euros in the pot. Read more to learn more about the main research emphases.

Research focus:

• DETECTION OF TRACES OF ALLERGENS IN FOOD
• BIOACTIVE INGREDIENTS: Safety of bioactive ingredients in functional foods
• CHEMICAL FOOD CONTAMINANTS
• EMERGING RISK: Effects [Consequences] of climate change on [for] feed and food safety
• GMO: Development of screening methods of GMOs
• MRSA: The zoonotic potential of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) - antibiotic resistance and non-typable (NT) strains
• RISK-BENEFIT ANALYSIS
• RISK ASSESSMENT OF FOOD-BORNE PATHOGENS
• TRACEABILITY

TIME SCHEDULE

20th of June 2008: SAFEFOODERA 2nd Call officially announced

15th of September 2008: Deadline for proposal submission (17:00 Brussels time)

1st of March 2009: Latest date for project start

Instructions for prospective candidates can be found here 

At Matís, work is beginning on a project entitled: "New production process for the production of Lútfiskur". The project is funded by the AVS Fisheries Research Fund and will be carried out by Fram Foods, which has a large market share in lye fish in the Nordic countries.

Lute fish is a very special product based on centuries-old methods and we used to preserve raw materials. The raw material is dried down to about 15-16% moisture and there is about 80% utilization loss during drying. The dried raw material is stored until the autumn until processing takes place, which is from the end of September until mid-December. In a conventional processing process, the fillets are soaked, then bent and rinsed, which causes the weight of the fillets to multiply. During bending, the acidity of the product rises a lot and they can therefore absorb a lot of water, which is the explanation for the expansion of the fish during bending. Finally, the fillets are cut into pieces and packed in 1 kg vacuum units. 
 
Some believe that lye fish dates back to the Viking Age, while others believe that lye fish first appeared in the 16th century in the Netherlands and soon found its way to the Nordic countries, where consumption is highest today. The total Nordic market for lye fish is estimated at 5,200 tonnes. Of this, 2,200 tonnes of cod are in Norway, 2,500 tonnes of ling in Sweden and 500 tonnes of ling in Finland. Consumption is traditional and almost exclusively for Christmas, but something is eaten from lye fish at Easter. When consumed, the fish pieces are boiled and served with boiled potatoes, peppers and green beans, not unlike ham. As such, the fish has a very special texture that resembles boiled egg whites and is tasteless after the effect and there is something about flavors such as mustard or bacon being added to the sauce, or as a side dish
 
The idea behind the research project is to seek more flexibility in production by shortening the production time, so that the supermarkets can be offered a fresher product by shortening the processing time.

The project manager is Hörður G. Kristinsson, department manager at Matís.

Matís – Prokaria recently acquired a Roche / 454 Life Science sequencer. According to Ragnar Jóhannsson, director of Matís' Biotechnology Division, the device can sequence large amounts of genetic material at once and opens up a new dimension in the search for interesting genes for new enzymes that can be used in the pharmaceutical, food and energy industries. This gene is found in microorganisms that live in hot springs at temperatures of up to 100 degrees and at very different salinity and acidity levels, says Ragnar.

Previously, the so-called Gen-Mining method was used, but the new machine reduces the cost of searching for genes almost 20-fold. But the big plus is that all of the organism's genes that code for all of its hundreds of enzymes are obtained in one go. To put capacity in context, the machine sequences 1,000,000,000 base pairs overnight - the existing machine detects 100,000 base pairs at the same time. This is a 10,000-fold difference in capacity. The new device was purchased in collaboration with the Center for Systems Biology at the University of Iceland and the University of Iceland Experimental Station at Keldur

As mentioned earlier, the device is a FLX type from Roche / 454 Life Science and will be used for various researches and will be used, for example, in research in systems biology, which is about analyzing the overall picture of organisms' activities, ie the interaction of metabolism and gene expression. It is necessary to design production organisms that can carry out complex chemical preparations.

The device will also be used in research on higher animals such as the cod genome, in the search for genetic markers and key genes that control important traits such as growth rate and disease resistance.

The device will also be used in gene expression research, which is important in various health and health research studies, such as cancer research and research into inflammatory diseases. It refers to diseases such as rheumatism, cardiovascular disease.

A major advantage of this device over other comparable devices is that it is possible to sequence the genome of unknown bacteria and even a mixture of genomes, which is important in environmental research. In a new article in Nature, there is an interview with well-known scientists in the field where they state that this is the only device in the world today that can do this.

The picture above shows Ragnar (left) and Ólafur H. Friðjónsson by the new sequencer.

A new CFO started working at Matís at the end of last month, Sigríður Hrönn Theódórsdóttir, and she took over the job from Aðalbjörg Halldórsdóttir. Sigríður is a business economist from Fachhochschule Munchen, and has extensive experience in the business world.

As stated earlier, Sigríður has extensive experience in the business world and it can be mentioned that she worked for Nýsir hf. as managing director of Artes, Café Konditori Copenhagen and also as operations manager of Heilsugæslan in Salahverfi. Previously, she worked as a project manager at Brú Venture Capital and at Nýsköpunarsjóður atvinnulífsins.

Sigríður has traveled widely and spent long periods abroad, she lived in Munich for 13 years, where she studied and worked, where she worked for the large companies Allianz and Siemens Nixdorf.

She has also traveled to many exotic destinations such as Brazil, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, the Philippines, Thailand, Egypt to name a few.

On Thursday 12 June, there will be a conference on behalf of the University of Akureyri on future challenges in the fisheries sector.

The conference will discuss the future of the fisheries sector from various angles. Domestic and foreign scholars and employers, many of whom are considered to be at the forefront of their field, will discuss a wide range of topics related to the fisheries sector. For example, about the future prospects of cod stocks in the world, investment opportunities in the international fisheries sector and what can be learned from what is well done in fisheries management.

More information can be found on the website http://fisheries.unak.is You can also register for the conference on that website. Please contact Lára Guðmundsdóttir (tel. 460-8900, laragudmunds@unak.is for further information on registration and Hreiðar Þór Valtýsson (862-4493, hreidar@unak.is regarding general information.

The picture shows Borgir, the University of Akureyri's laboratory, where Matís has facilities. Workshops will be held in Borgir, but the conference itself will take place at Hotel KEA.

At the board meeting of Matís ohf. on the 22nd of May. there were personnel changes in the board. Sigríður Sía Jónsdóttir resigned from the company's board and was replaced by Ýr Gunnlaugsdóttir.

The board consists of Ýr, Friðrik Friðriksson Chairman, Einar Matthíasson Deputy Chairman, Arnar Sigurmundsson, Ágústa Guðmundsdóttir, Guðrún Elsa Gunnarsdóttir and Jón Eðvald Friðriksson.

Matís ohf thanks Sigríður Sía for her work for the company, while Ýr is welcomed to the board.

Matís ohf's Chemistry Research Department offers interested students in chemistry or biochemistry a scholarship for a master's degree (MSc) in the field of trace chemical analysis.

Project title:
Analysis of toxic and non-hazardous forms of arsenic in fishmeal by HPLC-ICP-MS.

Further information can be found at click here!

Matís is now starting work on a project called: "Cartilage sugars and bioactive substances from sea otters" and a start-up meeting in the project was held this morning. The project will focus on the development of the process of processing bioactive substances from sea edema, from the processing of chondroitin sulphate from sea edema to the production and purification of chondroitin sulphate oligosaccharides processed with specific sugar-degrading enzymes.

Processing processes will also be developed to produce extracts with advanced bioactivity. The aim is for the project to lead to the development of production products with standardized content and functionality that can be sold in markets in Europe, Japan and Korea and beyond.

Studies have shown that chondroitin sulfate oligosaccharides have a beneficial effect on blood pressure, immune system, digestion, oxidative processes, inflammatory processes, rheumatism and other aspects of human and animal physical activity. Therefore, chondroitin sulfate oligosaccharides can be used as medicines, health or dietary supplements. Such sugars can be produced by specific enzyme degradation of chondrotin sulfate polysaccharide. Chondrotin sulfate polysaccharides can be extracted in large quantities from seaweed, which is an underused species with high utilization potential. Furthermore, research has shown that many types of edema have a lot of bioactive substances that can be isolated or further processed.

The project is funded by the Rannís Technology Development Fund and the AVS Fisheries Research Fund and is carried out in collaboration with IceProtein in Sauðárkrókur, Reykofninn Grundarfjörður and the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Iceland.