Category: News

Matís has found a previously unknown thermal bacterium, which seems to be bound to Iceland. The species was found in a high proportion in hot springs in the Torfajökull area and has now been successfully cultivated.

Matís has found a previously unknown thermal bacterium, which seems to be bound to Iceland. The species was found in a high proportion in hot springs in the Torfajökull area and has now been successfully cultivated.

Various studies have been carried out on thermal bacteria by Prokaria, Matís' biotechnology department. Modern methods allow scientists to detect species composition without culturing the bacteria. A previously unknown Thermus species, which appears to be confined to Iceland, was found using such methods. The species was found in a high proportion in hot springs in the Torfajökull area, but had previously been found in hot springs in the Hengill area.

Subsequently, interest arose in trying to isolate and cultivate this special Icelandic Thermus brand. Grants were received from the Research Fund and the National Energy Authority, and samples were taken from hot springs in the Torfajökull area in late summer and it was confirmed that Thermus islandicus was found there. Cultivation experiments on different foods, at different temperatures, acidity and oxygen concentrations have now finally yielded results in a viable strain which is now being studied further. Snædís Huld Björnsdóttir, an employee of Matís, has worked on this project, while Sólveig Pétursdóttir is the project manager.

Various Thermus species have produced valuable DNA enzymes that are used in research around the world. These include the enzyme DNA polymerase, which is used to amplify DNA to obtain multiple copies of a particular gene or fragment and a DNA ligase from the Thermus virus that glues DNA fragments. It is therefore not unlikely that the new species contains interesting enzymes.

Many believe that electronic markings will replace traditional bar codes in the coming years. Matís has recently years participated in a development project that aims to label fish tanks electronically. Such markings will increase the possibility of exploiting traceability and, among other things, enable companies to send electronic information to buyers about where the product is caught, where it has been processed and which way it has gone to market.

Demands from producers and consumers for an increased flow of information and better labeling of food are constantly increasing. It can be said that the development of electronic labeling for fish tanks is part of that development. For example, it is believed that electronic labeling will even make it possible for the refrigerator of the future to receive information and disseminate it to consumers, whether it is information about the last day of sale of food, the content of allergens or what side dishes apply to Icelandic cod. . It is also hoped that the refrigerators of the future will be able to communicate wirelessly with food manufacturers' databases, which will, for example, be able to warn consumers in the event of foodborne infections that may be related to the food in the refrigerator.

Experimental production of the refrigerators of the future has already begun, for example at Innovation Lab in Denmark. The company says that the refrigerators will be on general sale in 5-10 years.

The development of electronic labeling for fish tanks, which is funded by the AVS fund, is carried out in collaboration with FISK Seafood, Sæplast and Maritech. The results of the project are expected in the coming weeks.

This week, Swedac and the Icelandic Patent Office carried out a quality audit of Matís' research methods, and such audits were carried out annually at IFL and the Environment Agency's Laboratory for many years.

The audit took place on 15.10. 2007 at Matís laboratory at Skúlagata 4 and on 18.10. In 2007, a similar audit was carried out at Matís' branch in Neskaupstaður. The Matís branch in Akureyri, on the other hand, carried out a quality audit in April this year.

According to Margrét Geirsdóttir, Matís 'quality manager, the audit went well and Matís' laboratory now has 27 accredited microbial methods and 7 chemical methods on its list. These are various microbiological studies on food, water, feed, environmental samples, medicinal products and substances, as well as specialized chemical measurements on food, water and environmental samples and measurements of pesticides in vegetables and fruit.

Accreditation is a recognition that a company has the best practices and has the technical ability to ensure that the measurements made there meet all international requirements in relation to the quality environment, work rules and strict quality control. The accreditation is based on the ISO 17025 standard on laboratory activities, but the provision on accreditation was introduced in an Icelandic regulation in 1994.

There are The Patent Office and Swedac, the Swedish Accreditation Agency, which grants the Matís accreditation. With an annual visit, the accreditation body examines whether the quality system and the measurement methods used in chemical and microbial research meet the obligations required for accreditation and described in the ISO 17025 standard.

In addition, the Matís laboratory is accredited by the New York State Department of Health for microbial measurements in bottled water.

List of Matís' accredited research methods (pdf file)

The picture shows three Swedac representatives along with some employees at Matís' Food Safety Department on Skúlagata.

Matís (Matvælarannsóknir Íslands) has increased the number of employees at its office in Ísafjörður. Jón Atli Magnússon has started working at the establishment, but he will handle projects in the field of processing and aquaculture technology.

He is the third employee at Matís in Ísafjörður, preceded by Þorleifur Ágústsson and Jón. G. Schram.

Jón Atli will graduate as a mechanical engineer (B.Sc.) from the University of Iceland later this month. He has a variety of other education and work experience from the business world. He has a mechanical engineering license from VMA (3rd level) and worked for several years as an engineer at Hraðfrystihúsið-Gunnvör in Hnífsdalur, but recently. For two years, Jón worked as the development manager of 3X Technology (formerly 3X Stál). Last but not least, Jón founded 5 sheep sheep farms when he was 15 years old, which he ran during his studies.

Jón's wife is Ilmur Dögg Níelsdóttir, a nurse, and they have a son, Jóhann Ása.

Matís in Akureyri took part in the food exhibition Matur-inn which took place at Verkmenntaskólinn last weekend. There, Matís presented its operations in Akureyri; research into pollutants and undesirable substances in food. The ÍSGEM database was also introduced, and it has information on the chemical content of 900 foods.

Matís 'projects attracted a lot of visitors' attention at the exhibition, which was attended by more than 10,000 people. Many guests who visited Matís' booth found it remarkable how extensive research work was carried out by the company in the town.

Matís 'new report, which publishes a summary of the information available on Icelanders' consumption of the various fish species, states, among other things, that Icelanders prefer haddock to other fish. And probably few will be surprised!

The report is called "Fish consumption of 17 to 49 year old Icelanders in different fish species
and products"And is part of the AVS project"Value and safety of Icelandic seafood - Risk composition and risk ranking”. According to the author of the report, Kolbrún Sveinsdóttir, the aim of the report is to make a detailed and accessible summary of the latest information available on Icelanders' fish consumption. Such information has not been available so far.

Among other things, the report states that fish consumption of older people is higher than that of younger people, and that the older age group also eats a wider variety of fish species and products than younger people. There also seems to be some difference between the fish consumption of the residents of the capital on the one hand and the people of the countryside on the other, both in terms of the frequency of fish consumption and the fish products that are eaten.

Fish is more often on the plates of people in the countryside and most often it is traditional products such as haddock, cod and salted fish and more often than not it is frozen products. Residents of the capital eat more fresh fish and semi-prepared fish dishes, which is undoubtedly due to better access to such a product than is available abroad. They are also more likely to eat fish outside the home than rural people.

Kolbrún says that the summary is mostly based on information obtained in the attitude and consumption survey of the AVS project "Attitudes and fish consumption of young people: Improving the image of seafood”Conducted in 2006, where more than 2000 people answered questions about their fish consumption and attitudes.

Kolbrún emphasizes the need for this type of information to cover all age groups and mentions, for example, that people over the age of 65 are considerably more vulnerable to various risk factors than others.
 

Read report 37-07: Fish consumption of 17 to 49 year old Icelanders on different fish species and products

Matís report 08-07: Value and safety of Icelandic seafood. Risk composition and risk ranking

Matís report 05-07: Attitudes and fish consumption of young people aged 18 to 25 - Descriptive statistical analysis

Össur Skarphéðinsson, Minister of Industry, enjoyed lamb that was raised on angelica in Matís' booth (Matvælarannsóknir Íslands) at RANNÍS Science Week at the Reykjavík Art Museum on Friday. At the booth, Matís presented research on lambs raised on this plant this summer. According to the study, angel lambs have a greater spice smell and taste, while lambs in traditional grazing land have a greater lamb taste.

The project is initiated by Halla Steinólfsdóttir and Guðmundur Gíslason, sheep farmers at Ytri-Fagradalur in Skarðsströnd. They raised a certain number of lambs in a pasture with angelica. For comparison, other lambs were placed in pasture and on farmland. The aim is to raise angelica to be applied to the lambs before slaughter and to start production of lamb meat based on this method.

Angelica was previously considered a budding remedy and was also considered a remedy for all. Now the interest in this herb is resurfacing as people become more aware of the substances it puts into it. Angelica has been used to flavor food and is considered a good herb. Therefore, it is interesting to look at what it means in the taste quality of meat to raise lambs in part on angelica before slaughter.

Now that research has been done on the meat, it turns out that there is a noticeable difference between lambs that were raised on angelica and lambs that were raised on traditional summer work. The aim is to continue research next summer and, among other things, the aim is to create a field so that the taste can be further developed.

Aquaculture can be very useful in building an efficient sector in the Icelandic fisheries sector, not least in the fjords in the countryside where there is sufficient space, as stated in the case of Einar K. Guðfinnson, Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture, at an open meeting of Matís on cod farming in Ísafjörður. He says that by accelerating the development of aquaculture in Iceland, it is possible to multiply the production capacity for the industry, create increased employment opportunities in many parts of the country and provide good raw materials for demanding markets. However, he warns of a gold digger mood in connection with the cod farming.

"Fishing is a large part of seafood production and is expanding globally. It is therefore important for us Icelanders to be active participants in research and development in this field. In cod farming research in this country, efforts have been made to delay the sexual maturity of cod as much as possible so that it continues to grow, so that it will be possible to increase efficiency in farming," said the minister. It was also stated in his case that the development of cod farming in Iceland for commercial purposes is a very important but at the same time risky long-term project that requires a concerted effort by public bodies and private companies.

"At this point, we are at a kind of threshold as far as the cod farm is concerned. We need to make decisions about the future and where to go. Tireless, costly and patient work is behind us. We have learned a lot and now it is time to take the steps forward. Although all the questions have not been answered, we know that there is great potential in cod farming; possibilities that I am not the only one to have high hopes for."

However, the minister pointed out that those who come to fish farming must be careful. "I feel that now I perceive a somewhat similar discussion about cod farming as in the early days of that economic activity. The gold digger mood. She has little right to herself. As before, the cod fishery requires a lot of capital and knowledge that can only be obtained through experience and a scientific approach. People don't build cod farms like a wave of the hand. It requires a completely different way of working and enormous discipline. That's what experience teaches us, and isn't it always the most untrue? In here you can find people with this much experience and knowledge who can handle all of this. It is on the basis of that experience that I think we should build our next steps. And so I believe that the government should support such efforts on the part of the industry itself, where people build on the knowledge that has accumulated within the companies and in our scientific community," said Einar K. Guðfinnsson, Minister of Fisheries and Agriculture.

Matís will hold an open introductory meeting on cod farming in the Westfjords Development Center tomorrow, Wednesday 26 September. At the meeting, Einar K. Guðfinnsson, Minister of Fisheries, Þorleifur Ágústsson, project manager at Matís, and Sjöfn Sigurgísladóttir, CEO of Matís, will discuss the status and prospects of aquaculture in Iceland, especially in the Westfjords. Karl Almås, Managing Director of SINTEF in Norway, will discuss aquaculture in Norway.

Time: September 26, 12: 15-13: 40 p.m.

Location: Westfjords Development Center, Árnagata 2-4, Ísafjörður.

Agenda (PDF).

Matís wants to hire an assistant at a laboratory in Reykjavík. The main tasks are the preparation of food and environmental samples.

The job includes work with sampling and preparation of samples, chemical analysis, etc. in the company's research projects.

University education is not a requirement.

For further information, contact Birna Eggertsdóttir, tel. +354 422 5000. The application deadline is October 5.

Click here to see the entire ad (pdf file)