Category: News

A two-day conference on food refrigeration management was recently held in Bonn, Germany. Guðrún Ólafsdóttir, food scientist at IFL among the lecturers. Innovations on labeling and measurements for sensitive foods that indicate the temperature and time load of a product were introduced, among other things.

The idea behind Cold Chain Management is not entirely new. Foods, medicines and other products that need to be stored chilled or frozen within very strict temperature limits, for example, fall under this category.

Temperature and time control are the most important factors in ensuring the quality and shelf life of a delicate product such as fish. With increased transport and longer distribution routes, there is an increasing emphasis on ensuring the low temperature of goods.

The conference discussed, among other things, the development of microbial prediction models and "Smart label" labeling to predict the shelf life and safety of food. For the consumer, markings are called so-called TTI (time temperature indicators) which can provide information on the temperature and time load of a product and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) markings are gaining ground.

Guðrún presented research related to Ph.D. Her project at the Bonn Conference on the use of an electric nose as a rapid measurement method for assessing the quality of fish. Conference proceedings were published with the presentations made.

Further information: Guðrún Ólafsdóttir, tel: 530 8647 gudrun@rf.is

Four representatives from the Whole Foods Market visited the Sjávarútvegshúsið this morning, to learn about Icelandic fish, research on seafood and how Icelanders manage their fisheries.

The Fisheries House has been quite hospitable recently, but it has only been a few days since members of the Marks & Spencer retail chain in the UK visited. Hopefully this is a sign of growing interest abroad in Icelandic fish and seafood and the fact that fish is not only good and healthy, but research shows, among other things that IFL has done, that there is unusually little unwanted substance in the fish caught is here by land.

Whole Foods Market The retail chain is probably the largest of its kind, but the WFM website says that the chain operates 155 stores in the United States and the United Kingdom. The retail chain specializes in the sale of "natural" and organically grown foods.

Baldvin Jónsson, marketing specialist and project manager at Áform, took care of the group's Iceland trip from WFM, but Baldvin has worked on marketing Iceland and Icelandic products for a long time. Among other things, he plays a major role in the success of the Fun and Food festival, which is now held here every year with remarkable results.

This week, four employees of the companies Marks & Spencer and Coldwater in the UK were on a trip to Iceland to get acquainted with the fishing industry, fish processing, companies and research related to seafood in Iceland. The four people were happy after a visit to Sjávarútvegshúsið this morning.

Several experts from IFL gave a short presentation of the research conducted here. Sjöfn Sigurgísladóttir started by welcoming guests and then told them about IFL's activities and how they were constantly working to increase the value of Icelandic seafood. Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir then talked about monitoring unwanted substances in seafood and recently introduced report on the material that IFL worked on with the support of the Ministry of Fisheries. It attracted their considerable attention how little unwanted substances are found in Icelandic fish, as stated in the aforementioned report.

Kolbrún Sveinsdóttir, then discussed a project called  Attitudes and fish consumption of young people: Improving the image of seafood. Kolbrún said, among other things, that surveys show that fish consumption seems to be declining, especially among young people, and that this is a cause for concern. The guests agreed and had a similar story to tell about Britain. Finally, Sigurjón Arason reported on projects about processing forecast and talked about the need for traceability.

Finally, representatives from the Ministry of Fisheries explained how the fisheries management system works in Iceland and also mentioned other issues such as eco-labeling, but according to the guests, consumers in the UK ask various questions about the origin and background of the food available there and therefore necessary for retailers to have reliable information at hand. It would have been the purpose of their trip to Iceland to gather data.

Those who visited Sjávarútvegshúsið this morning were Andrew Mallison, M&S Technical Manager, Andrew Richy, NPD M&S Technical Manager, Cris Barker, Coldwater's Technical Manager in Grimsby and Andy Beeken, M & S's Sales Representative at Coldwater.

In the latest issue. of Ægis magazine, there is an interesting article by Margrét Bragadóttir, a food scientist at IFL, about possible ways to use capelin oil to an increasing extent for human consumption, for example in mayonnaise, salad dressings, etc.

In his article suggests Margrét Among other things, capelin is the fish species that has been caught in by far the largest amount in Iceland, but the value of this amount has so far been small compared to the amount caught. The capelin is mainly used for smelting in fishmeal factories for the production of fishmeal and fish oil, which has mainly been used in animal feed.

This has been a thorn in the side of many, because it is clear that if it is possible to increase the proportion of capelin products that go directly to human consumption, it would greatly increase the value of the capelin catch that is caught.

Read the article

Further information:

phone: 8612661 / email: margret@rf.is

As many have no doubt noticed, there has been an unusual amount of cyclists on streets and sidewalks all over the country lately and the most unlikely people have been seen in the process. Both spring has finally arrived, but the Bike to Work campaign also took place from 3 to 16 May. IFL did not give up. 

Although this is not a formal competition between workplaces, a rather benevolent assessment, workplaces were still classified according to the number of employees and figures were compiled on their performance.  

IFL competed in the workplace category with 20 - 69 employees and a third of the employees, or 22 out of 60, took part in the campaign, which must be considered quite good. According to statistics, the 22 cycled a total of almost 1,200 kilometers during the campaign. 

The picture above shows some of those who participated on behalf of IFL: Left: María, Þóra, Björn, Helga, Hélène, Birna, Ernst, Ragnar, Rósa, Anna, Heiða, Judith and Eyjólfur. The picture lacks a few warriors, as 22 were registered for the competition, as stated earlier.

On June 16, 2006 at At 13:00, Sigrún Guðmundsdóttir, a biologist at IFL, will defend her doctoral dissertation "Listeria monocytogenes, from humans, food and food processing plants in Iceland – Molecular typing, adhesion and virulence testing ”in the Celebration Hall of the University of Iceland.

Opponents will be 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 Listeria monocytogenes in human beings, food and food processing in Iceland. Audits were carried out on processing plants that produce smoked salmon and boiled shrimp. L. monocytogenes the isolated strains were typed by molecular method (PFGE) and compared. Also, all strains that had been isolated from humans were typed and compared with food establishments. In addition, the adhesion and infectivity of selected strains were examined.

Sigrún's supervisors were Már Kristjánsson, an infectious disease doctor, and dr. Karl G. Kristinsson, professor at the University of Iceland and on the doctoral committee were dr. Ágústa Guðmundsdóttir professor at the University of Iceland, dr. Haraldur Briem, Epidemiologist, dr. Hjörleifur Einarsson professor at the University of Akureyri and dr. Sjöfn Sigurgísladóttir CEO of IFL.

Sigrún Guðmundsdóttir was born in 1966. She graduated from MR in 1986, a BS degree in biology from the University of Iceland in 1991 and an MS degree from Heriott-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland in 1992. She has been a specialist at IFL since 1995 and began her doctoral studies at HÍ 2000.

This morning, a delegation from Argentina visited the Fisheries House and got acquainted with the activities of IFL, the Marine Research Institute and the Ministry of Fisheries.

The delegation, which consists of about 20 people, consists of both public bodies and representatives of companies from all over Argentina. It is worth mentioning that the delegation includes members of parliament and other senior officials.

The group will stay here for a few days after attending the fisheries exhibition in Brussels and the purpose is to get to know the fisheries issues in this country, both in companies and the public sector. They were introduced to the activities that take place here in the house and all that could be seen was that they were very interested in getting to know what the country is doing in the field of fisheries and fish processing and research in those areas.

IFL is advertising for a specialist in the field of food risk assessment. Its role must be to participate in research into the effects of fish on health (risk-benefit analysis of food). The job includes building databases and designing a web interface.

The role of the specialist must be to participate in research into the effects of fish on health (risk-benefit analysis of food). The job involves building databases and designing a web interface. The person in question must be able to work independently and manage projects, as well as work in good collaboration with other specialists within IFL and abroad.

Qualification requirements:

• University education in the field of science (computer science, statistics, chemistry, biology, or food science)
• Very good computer skills are a prerequisite
• Knowledge and experience of using statistics in research is an advantage
• Organizational skills and interpersonal skills
• Initiative and ambition in work.

The application must be accompanied by a clear overview of the study career, computer skills and previous work.

Wages are according to collective agreements of public employees. Remuneration, rights and obligations are otherwise governed by the Act on the Rights and Duties of Government Employees No. 70/1996.

The application deadline is May 28, 2006. Applications with information about education and previous jobs, together with copies of exam documents, are requested to be sent by e-mail (helgag@rf.is) or to the Fisheries Research Institute, Skúlagata 4, 101 Reykjavík. Information about the job is provided by Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir, tel. 530 8600.

When researching fish, scientists can use grinders to analyze its age and species. In all bonefish, there are stones made of calcium compounds in their inner ear called grinders. They play a variety of roles, including is the sense of hearing and balance of the fish in the sea, but you can do a lot more by looking at them. This week, the mills of small cod at IFL were being removed, among other things to check the condition of the ecosystem in the sea around Iceland.  

This "ear examination" is part of The AMSUM monitoring project, which IFL has participated in since 1989, but its goal is to monitor changes that may occur in the concentration of trace elements in the marine environment around Iceland during a certain period and between different ocean and coastal areas. IFL's role in the project is to oversee measurements of various inorganic trace elements and chloro-organic substances in sand coal, cod and mussels collected around the country. IFL is also responsible for entering data into the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) database.

This week, employees from the Environment and Quality Department of IFL's Research Division were preparing small cod for research in the processing hall of the Fisheries House by filleting it and removing grinders.

Project manager at IFL: Eva Yngvadóttir

The company Sæplast ehf in Dalvík has developed a new revolutionary fish tank in collaboration with IFL, FISK Seafood hf and the University of Iceland. The fishery was formally unveiled by the Minister of Fisheries, Einar K. Guðfinnsson, at the fisheries exhibition in Brussels today. This is stated on AVS website of the fund, but he funded precisely this project.

This project started in 2004 and its goal was to find ways to reduce the load on fish in the lower layers of fish tanks and thereby reduce shrinkage and bruising in fish. The first ideas were to try to create and develop some kind of shelving system in the pots, but prospective users soon rejected the idea so they tried to approach the project in another way.

The result was to start from scratch and design a completely new tank that fulfilled the goal of improving the quality of raw materials and at the same time improving the utilization of volume on board ships, storage and transport equipment. Now a new tank has seen the light of day and it is somewhat lower than most fish tanks today, the tank is also lighter, and when stacked, the upper tank closes the lower one without shit from the forklift reaching the lower tank. In addition, the new vessel's capacity utilization of ships and transport equipment is significantly better. 

One advantage is that the new tank is stacked with older tanks so that there is no such system change. It will be exciting to watch and see how this new vessel will be taken and how it turns out, perhaps here is a new and better tool to improve the utilization and quality of raw materials.

IFN's project manager was Sveinn V. Árnason