From 9 to 12 August, a Nordic conference was held in Iceland under the auspices of the Nordic Dietitians' Association, an association of Nordic nutritionists / consultants. Among the speakers at the conference was Emilía Martinsdóttir, head of department at IFL.
Emilia presented the project Attitudes and fish consumption of young people: Improving the image of seafood, which began in 2005 and is planned to be completed in 2008. The progress of the project has previously been described on this page, as one of the main purposes of the project is education and promotion with the aim of increasing fish consumption, especially among young people.
Emilia's lecture was delivered in English, like other lectures at the conference, and was entitled Improved image of seafood. Consumer's attitudes and fish consumption. You can read Emilia's lecture, as well as other material from the conference, by click here.
From 16.-19. July was the conference The 8th International Conference on the Application of Magnetic Resonance in Food Science held in Nottingham, England. A conference such as this is held every two years and discusses the main innovations in the use of nuclear magnetic technology (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) in food research at any given time. A young female researcher at IFL, María Guðjónsdóttir, was unexpectedly invited to speak at the conference this time.
It was originally planned that María would attend the conference on behalf of IFL and present two projects on posters: "Low field NMR study of the state of water at superchilling and freezing temperatures and the effect of salt on freezing processes of water in cod mince" and "Low field NMR study on seven dry salting methods of cod (Gadus morhua.) She will send a copy of the posters to the conference organizer in May, as required.
The aforementioned project, however, attracted special attention and was chosen as one of the four most interesting posters of the conference, and on that occasion María was asked to give a short lecture on the results of the study to conference guests. According to María, this was a pleasant surprise and the lecture exceeded expectations.
María is a chemical and physical engineer (Civ. Ing. Kemiteknik med fysik) by education and studied at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden. Her research at IFL focuses on salting, product development, processing properties, water resistance, proteins, light salting.
Due to summer holidays, IFL's office in Reykjavík will be closed from 17 July to 8 August. For more information on direct telephone numbers. - Our office in Reykjavik will be closed from July 17. until August 8. This includes our telephone desk. See information below about direct phone numbers.
Most of IFL's staff will be on summer vacation for the last two weeks in July and the first week in August, including office staff, who will, among other things, staff the switchboard and answer questions. However, not all IFL employees are on holiday during the period in question and you can reach those employees by calling direct phone number the person in question.
Workshop: 530 8623 or 530 8624
Microwave: 530 8602 or 530 8607
Trace element office: 530 8654 or 530 8659
ENGLISH: Due to summer vacations our offices in Reykjavik, including our telephone desk, will be closed from July 17. until Aug. 8. It is possible, however, to contact the IFL employees who will not be vacationing during this period directly. Here is our phone directory
IFL's Annual Report 2005, in which the main points of IFL's activities in 2005 are listed, has now been published and is available here on the web as a pdf file. The document is almost 6MB in size, as the report is quite large in interest, almost 50 pages.
As many know, this spring the Althingi passed a law authorizing the government to establish a limited company, called Matvælarannsóknir hf., For the operation of the Fisheries Research Institute, Matvælarannsóknir Keldnaholt, cf. a co-operation agreement between the Institute of Technology and the Agricultural University, and the laboratory of the Environment Institute. Matvælarannsóknir hf. Is expected to start operations on January 1, 2007. IFL's Annual Report 2005 is therefore the last actual annual report that IFL publishes under that name.
Among other things, it is stated in the 2005 Annual Report that IFL's turnover did not decrease between 2004-5, despite much lower special income from service measurements, but as is well known, the decision was made a few years ago that IFL would withdraw for the most part. out of competitive operations, especially in the field of service measurement. This meant, among other things, that three IFL service branches were closed, in Ísafjörður, Akureyri and the Westman Islands. IFL's activities in these places continue, however, with a change of emphasis, with an emphasis on research and innovation.
One of the main reasons why IFL has kept afloat, despite this contraction in service measurements, is that IFL's research revenues have risen sharply, both domestically and abroad. This has happened despite the fact that the Research Fund, formerly known as the Technology Fund, is not as willing to support a practical research project as its predecessor did before. The ACP Research Fund and the Technology Development Fund have also had a generally positive impact on research activities and innovation in the fisheries sector.
Recently, two IFL staff went to Sri Lanka under the auspices of the International Development Agency (ICEIDA), the United Nations University School of Fisheries (UNU-FTP) and the National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency (NARA) in Sri Lanka. The purpose was to make an assessment of the quality of fishing ports in Sri Lanka and help to improve those issues in connection with the development after the great natural disasters, e.g. December 26, 2004
Sveinn V. Árnason and Birna Guðbjörnsdóttir, specialists in the IFL Research Division, went to Sri Lanka in mid-May and stayed there for two weeks. They are not completely unfamiliar with this kind of work, as they were among the four IFL employees who went to Viet twice a few years ago to assist universities in that country in preparing quality material in the field of quality in the fishing industry.
As is well known, there was a lot of damage to Sri Lanka in the natural disasters in 2004, both human and property damage. About half of the country's fishing vessels were destroyed, ports were damaged and hundreds of thousands of people who had been employed in fishing and processing lost their lives. It was therefore a lot at stake for the locals to get things back on track and preferably better, as soon as possible.
According to Sveinn and Birna, their involvement in the project consists mainly of the preparation of study material for harbor masters and parties in the management system who are involved in harbor matters. The course deals with the state of quality in fishing ports in Sri Lanka and ways to improve the quality of the catch that passes through the ports. They visited fishing ports in Sri Lannka, including Beruwala south of the capital Colombo, where the accompanying photos were taken.
The main problems are the lack of clean water, both for use in port areas and for ice production. There are also various deficiencies regarding hygiene and all handling of the fish, the ice and in fact the entire area that the fish pass through within the harbors. In addition to Birna and Sveinn, Ranjith Edirisinghe, Director,
Post Harvest Division, NARA, Mr. Marcus Mallikage, Ministry of Fisheries and Ms. Induni Kariyawasam (Research Officer), NARA and Marcus studied in Iceland at UNU-FTP in 2001.
Ranjith and Marcus are currently in Iceland and an interview with them in Morgunblaðið today states that about 40% of the catch is wasted after it is caught and therefore it is urgent to improve aspects such as handling and storage.
Pictured here are: Ranjith Edirisinghe, Birna, Sveinn and Marcus Mallikage.
A survey of young people's attitudes towards fish consumption began on 1 June and ended yesterday, 3 July. The survey, which is part of an extensive project that is being worked on at IFL, reached young people aged 18-45 and a participation offer was sent to a random sample of 3,500 people from the National Register at this age and the person in question was invited to participate in an opinion poll on fish consumption. There was good participation in the survey, as there are great prizes on offer for lucky participants.
Icelanders have long been among the largest fish-consuming nations in the world and this is often linked to the longevity and good health of the nation in general, but now there are various glimmers in the air in that respect, as fish consumption has fallen sharply in a few years or at least 30%.
The research is a collaborative project of IFL, the Social Sciences Institute of the University of Iceland, the Laboratory of Nutrition at the University of Iceland and Landspítali University Hospital, the company Icelandic Services, and students at Reykjavík University also participate in the project.
Today, the names of the winners in the survey were drawn and the result was as follows:
WINNINGS:
Winner's code:
Trip for two to Berlin with Flugleidir
RCYCQ
2 x ISK 15,000 from Glitnir
HHSODLRFWL
Out to eat for 2 at Sjávarkjallarinn
KCPUB
3 x2 theater tickets at the National Theater
DRSCCQCWCDFFUFB
Out to eat for 2 at Skólabrú
JYFHM
Out to dinner for 2 in Argentina
YKGRJ
Out for lunch for 2 at La Primavera
QYHGJ
For further information, contact Gunnþórunn Einarsdóttir, tel. +354 530 8667 / gunna@rf.is
At the turn of the month, a new employee, Jón Gunnar Schram, started working at IFL. Jón will work in Ísafjörður and take part in the development of IFL's operations that is currently taking place there, especially in the field of aquaculture.
Jón is an educated teacher from the Iceland University of Education and has worked as a teacher for about a decade, both at primary and secondary school level. Jón has taught both abroad, at Kirkjubæjarklaustur and in Reykjavík, most recently at Hamraskóli.
Jón graduated with an MS in Fisheries from the University of Iceland in 2002. He is a familiar face to many who are interested in fisheries and aquaculture in Iceland, as he has been active in attending conferences in this field in recent years. IFL welcomes Jón to work.
The results of a new report from the annual monitoring project, which monitors pollution and the state of the marine environment around Iceland, show little change from previous years, for example there is little evidence that the concentration of heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants is growing in the sea around the country. This can be read from the report Monitoring of the Marine Biosphere around Iceland in 2004-2005 which came out on IFL today.
The report presents the results of an annual monitoring project led by the Environment Agency and funded by the Ministry for the Environment. The aim of the project is to fulfill Iceland's obligations regarding the Oslo and Paris Agreements (OSPAR), as well as AMAP (Artic Monitoring Assessment Program). The monitoring measures various inorganic trace elements and chloro-organic substances in cod and mussels, but these organisms were collected around the country in 2004 and 2005. The results of the measurements described in these reports are a continuation of monitoring measurements that began in 1990.
As before, the concentration of heavy metals in cod and mussels in Iceland is usually measured at or below the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) reference values, with a few exceptions. Thus, for example, cadmium is still relatively high in the marine environment in Iceland, which seems to have a natural geological explanation, as there is no evidence of man-made cadmium pollution.
A comparison with other sea areas shows that the concentration of persistent organic pollutants in the marine environment around Iceland is among the lowest measured in nearby sea areas.
As was reported in a news item on IFL's website recently in connection with an aquaculture conference in Ísafjörður, Dr. Björn Þrándur Björnsson, professor at the University of Gothenburg, has been hired part-time at IFL. Björn Þrándur is one of Europe's leading experts in the field of fish physiology and will take part in IFL's policy in this field.
Björn Þrándur graduated with a BS in Biology from the University of Iceland in 1974 and a Ph.D. degree in animal physiology from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden in 1985. He conducted research and teaching at the Institute of Physiology at the University of Iceland in the years 1974-78 and research at the University of California at Berkeley in the years 1985-87. Björn has been an associate professor at the University of Gothenburg since 1988.
Last week, the number of IFL employees who have completed a doctoral degree increased, but then Sigrún Guðmundsdóttir, a biologist at IFL, defended her doctoral dissertation "Listeria monocytogenes, from humans, food and food processing plants in Iceland – Molecular typing, adhesion and virulence testing. ”
The doctoral defense took place on 16 June in the Celebration Hall of the University of Iceland. Opponents were dr. Bjarnheiður Guðmundsdóttir from the University of Iceland and dr. Marie-Louise Danielsson-Tham, Professor at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SLU.
Sigrún's dissertation deals with research on the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes in human beings, food and food processing in Iceland. Audits were carried out on processing houses that produce smoked salmon and boiled shrimp and the bacteria were isolated. L. monocytogenes The isolated strains were typed by a molecular method called pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) and compared. Everyone L. monocytogenes strains isolated from humans in the years 1978-2000 were also typed and compared with strains isolated from food processing plants. In addition, the adhesion and infectivity of selected strains were examined.
The research took place at IFL. Sigrún's supervisors were Már Kristjánsson, an infectious disease doctor, and Dr. Karl G. Kristinsson Professor at the University of Iceland. The doctoral committee included Dr. Ágústa Guðmundsdóttir Professor at the University of Iceland, Dr. Dr. Haraldur Briem, Dr. Hjörleifur Einarsson professor at the University of Akureyri and Dr. Sjöfn Sigurgísladóttir, director of the Fisheries Research Institute.
Sigrún Guðmundsdóttir was born in 1966. She graduated with a bachelor's degree from MR in 1986, a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Iceland in 1991 and an MS degree from Heriott-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland in 1992. She has worked as a specialist at IFL since 1995 and began her doctoral studies. his work there in the year 2000.
