Category: News

The project DiscardLess formally ended recently with the final meeting of the project held in the premises DTU in Lyngby in Denmark. The project lasted for four years and a total of 31 companies and institutions from 12 countries took part in it.

The main goal DiscardLess was facilitating the implementation of a ban on discards that the European Union has been trying to impose for the last four years, with limited success. At the beginning of 2019, the discard ban was to be fully implemented in all sea areas covered by the European Union's Common Fisheries Policy (CFP), but it is clear that the ban can still be considered far-reaching. was aimed. Among the participants in the project were the companies Matís, SkipaSýn, Hampiðjan and Marel, and no country had as many representatives as Iceland in the project. The DiscardLess project focused, among other things, on countries that already have experience of dumping bans, with a view to trying to share their experiences, and it is clear that Iceland is being looked at in this regard.

The meeting covered the main phases of the project, obstacles and the next steps.

Here you can access the presentations and results that were presented at the final meeting. 

The North Atlantic Seafood Forum, held in Bergen, Norway, is one of the largest fisheries conferences in the world.

Attendees of the conference are influential people in the international fisheries sector as well as buyers, manufacturers, experts, etc. It can be estimated that the number of guests is around 900 people from 30 countries and approx. 300 companies. The conference will discuss issues that affect the interests of North Atlantic countries in particular. It covers, among other things, innovation, sustainability, supply and marketing; 16 seminars and 150 lectures.

Icelandic parties, companies in production, sales and services in the fisheries sector, parties in the industry's support environment are given the opportunity to participate, promote their products and services internationally, but Matís is one of the participants there.

Matís and the start-up company Codland have worked on projects where the goal is to utilize skin in valuable products.

Collagen is becoming increasingly popular as an active ingredient in various consumer products, but research indicates that there is a link between regular consumption of the substance and positive effects on the skin and joints. The world market for collagen-containing supplements is large and mainly made from pigs. Estimates assume increased demand for collagen peptides made from wild fish, so this is an ideal opportunity for Icelandic production.

The project Hydrolyzed collagen from the raw material of fish processing was recently funded by the Nordic Innovation Center and worked in collaboration with the Norwegian company Biomega, the Danish University of Technology (DTU) and Biosustain also in Denmark together with Matís and Codland. The aim of the project was, among other things, to develop new enzymes to process collagen from extra raw materials from white wild fish such as cod and fatty fish such as salmon.

Videos about the project can be found here.

For the next three years, Matis will be working with the University of Iceland and 13 other universities and institutions in Europe on the IValueFood project, which is intended to promote better health for consumers and support the food industry in Europe. 

This will be done by improving the knowledge and interest of future generations in food and food production. Recent methods, such as promotion through games, cooking interest groups, experiments with new cooking methods, twinning and "science meet food" will be used to increase the interest and knowledge of young consumers, from primary school to university, about food. Thus, the intention is to form a vanguard of young individuals who share values about food.

The project will involve various food companies and stakeholders, and the food industry will work with young consumers to define food values. Emphasis will be placed on areas within Europe where food interest and knowledge need to be increased in order to encourage future generations to make sensible and informed decisions in their food choices.

IValueFood is part of and funded by the large European Food Knowledge and Innovation Community, which aims to transform the environment of food production, processing and consumption by connecting consumers with companies, entrepreneurs, scientists and students across Europe. EIT Food supports new, sustainable and cost-effective solutions to improve consumer health and to ensure access to safe, high-quality food that has the least impact on the environment.

The ocean-related emphasis in the Icelandic Presidency - Good Roads - in the Nordic Council of Ministers was formally launched last week when the inaugural meeting of the project was held in Matís. 

The issue of the ocean and the blue bioeconomy is at the forefront during Iceland's presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers this year. Under the emphasis - The sea, blue growth in the north - are defined three projects that Iceland places special emphasis on in this presidency plan, but they are Nordmar Hafnir, on ports as centers of innovation and energy exchange, NordMar Plast, on solutions to the threat that plastic in the oceans poses to the ecosystem and our livelihoods and NordMar Lífiðjuver, about the possibilities inherent in the blue bioeconomy and the full utilization of raw materials and the processing of increasingly valuable products from marine resources.

These projects were formally launched on Thursday last week at the inaugural meeting of Hafsinn - blue growth in the north, which was held in Matís. Geir Oddson, an expert in the Nordic Department of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, opened the meeting with a presentation of the presidency program, followed by presentations on each project. Hrönn Jörundsdóttir from Matís leads NordMar Plast, Bryndís Björnsdóttir leads NordMar Lífiðjuver and Jákup Sørensen from the Nordic-Atlantic Partnership (NORA) leads NordMar Hafnir.

In the afternoon, the groups met separately to review work processes and work packages, and participants had the opportunity to get to know each other and exchange ideas regarding the projects.

Yesterday, a new agreement was signed between the University of Iceland and Matís ohf on research, innovation and teaching.

With this agreement, Matís and the University of Iceland want to lay the foundation for further strengthening of theoretical and practical education in the field of food research and food safety through close collaboration in the field of research and innovation. To this end, emphasis will be placed on collaboration in research and innovation, including guidance for master's and doctoral students in projects related to Matís and collaboration on the utilization of research tools and equipment.

The role of the University of Iceland is to bear professional responsibility for studies, teaching, study materials, leveling, examinations, the awarding of degrees at the end of studies and to ensure that staff in charge of teaching and research on behalf of the University of Iceland meet academic requirements.

The connection between education and training with the business community and society is the common thread in Matís' collaboration with educational institutions. Matís' role in conducting research and innovation for the benefit of the economy, public health and food security is guided. The purpose of the collaboration is to:

• increase the skills and possibilities of research staff and to be involved in and lead national and international projects with an emphasis on Iceland's interests.
• educate and train staff for the Icelandic food industry and Icelandic society
• share staff, facilities and equipment to be able to conduct intensive research in a cost-effective manner
• can acquire, execute and deliver projects quickly and efficiently  

This is done by:

• hire joint staff
• hire doctoral students for projects under the auspices of Matís, which in most cases are carried out in collaboration with companies in Iceland
• offer students master's degree projects that are usually carried out in collaboration with companies and / or institutions

In the fan version of Ægis, which was published on the occasion of 100 years of Iceland's sovereignty, the career of Sigurjón Arason, Matís' chief engineer and professor of food engineering at the University of Iceland, was discussed in detail. Here are a few snippets from the interview.

Sigurjón started plowing in the cold store in Norðfjörður when he was 10 years old and Sigurjón tried his hand at seafaring with his father during his teenage years in Hornafjörður and that was the beginning of his studies related to the fishing industry.

"Ever since I was on the boat in Hornafjörður in the past, it has been my motto that everything we fish should be handled correctly and well. Fish is a delicate raw material and difficult to handle, "says Sigurjón.

During his university years, Sigurjón worked for the State Fisheries in the summer and went, among other things, between all the cold stores in Iceland, 1972-1974, which then numbered over two hundred, to monitor the hygiene. The purpose was to prepare a new regulatory framework in this area, the so-called Red Handbook, and thereby meet the standards required by fish buyers in the United States.

After graduating from university, first in chemistry from the University of Iceland and then process engineering at the University of Copenhagen (DTU), Sigurjón joined Atlas Sabroe.

At the end of September 1978, Sigurjón was invited to come home and take over the position of head of the technical department of the Fisheries Research Institute. He accepted the offer. From the very first months, he started teaching fish industry technology and food engineering at the University of Iceland, and since then he has taught at both the University of Iceland and the University of Akureyri.

As is well known, the Fisheries Research Institute merged into Matís at the time, but a common thread in the daily projects of Sigurjón and colleagues has always been to improve processing processes and increase the value of seafood.

Everything is based on the same theories

"One of the things we worked on at that time was cooling the blue whiting to minus one degree, supercooling, to stop the decomposition. The blue whiting fishery ceased shortly afterwards, but the knowledge was used by us again a few years ago when mackerel began to be fished here by land in the jurisdiction during the summer. We also managed to develop a technology that made it possible to create great value from mackerel even though it was not at the most suitable time for processing. But in addition to knowledge that has been built on processing technology, refrigeration technology has also advanced over the years and created a basis for improving the quality of raw materials, "says Sigurjón.

"We are thus always hammering the same theories into the foundation and using them in, for example, research and student projects that are returned directly to the discipline."

Quality thinking in the fisheries sector is quite common in the industry today, but we still always need to sharpen it and be aware of issues that need to be fixed, for example in terms of fish handling, icing, bleeding and more. "

Inexhaustible opportunities for increased value creation

With the shortening of the vessels' fishing trips, Sigurjón says that a basis has been created for the production and export of fresh fish, which has since become an important part of demersal fish processing in Iceland in recent years.

"Developments in white fish have been very rapid and we have come a long way. But there are still endless opportunities to do better, and my message to the government is to spit again in terms of contributions to the AVS research fund on increasing the value of seafood, which has been a financial issue in recent years. The companies in the industry see that the way to take advantage of the opportunities and possibilities is based on knowledge and research. That foundation must therefore be strengthened. "

Photographer: Kristinn Ingvarsson / UI

A very interesting collaborative project between Dermos and Matís has just begun, where the intention is, among other things, to study the effects of fats from halibut, for example on skin diseases.

When Guðbjörn Björnsson, co-owner of Dermos, was a district doctor in the East Fjords, several years ago, he heard people talking about fishmongers, who recovered greatly from psoriasis and eczema when they worked barefoot with halibut. He then decided, in consultation with a dermatologist, to make a fertilizer from the fat of halibut. The fertilizer was tested on patients with these skin diseases and a good recovery was achieved, but due to a lot of fish and the smell of fish oil, they stopped the tests. Fatty acid treatment has been widely used since this experiment was performed.

The aim of the project is to make fertilizer from fatty halibut, limit the smell that was previously too strong and create a natural fertilizer that can treat the disease more effectively than other substances on the market.

The project is funded by the Technology Development Fund and project management at Dermos.

The drawing of the halibut is by Jón Baldur Hlíðberg, fauna.is

Panoramic Bioeconomy Panel (e. West Nordic Bioeconomy Panel) has set out five strategic priority objectives and proposed related key actions with the aim of promoting innovation and sustainable value creation within the long-term northern bioeconomy.

These key actions are considered to be sensible and realistic, the next step is to make them a reality. All stakeholders are therefore encouraged to put their ambition into action, including politicians, government agencies and companies. By doing so, the communities in the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland will contribute to achieving the United Nations' goals of sustainable development. 

In 2015, the Panel on the Bioeconomy in the North was established with the aim of proposing and disseminating a realistic policy for the maintenance and strengthening of the countries' bioeconomy in the north. The work has been funded by the North Atlantic Partnership (NORA).

The bioeconomy is a business activity that revolves around products and services based on life resources. It involves the utilization of life resources and increased value added of primary production from life resources, products and the use of side streams from the value chains of life resources.

Marine life resources play a key role in the northern bioeconomy; Faroe Islands, Greenland and Iceland. Here the bioeconomy differs from the bioeconomy of many other countries; The countries in the north are largely dependent on biomass transport, which is processed to a limited extent, for example frozen seafood. The potential for value added increases with more processing and proximity to the market. With more processing, it is also possible to utilize sidestreams, increase utilization and create jobs. That is why innovation that increases the processing and production of more valuable products is especially important in the North. At the same time, high labor costs, stray farms and demographic changes are affecting the region's innovative capacity.

The Nordic countries can contribute to greater sustainability in food processing and utilization, but this requires investment in infrastructure related to food security, which is a prerequisite for food trade. The import of food, feed and fertilizer to the area indicates an opportunity for increased self-sufficiency, especially by taking advantage of by-products in all areas.

The strategic priorities and main actions proposed here to, are steps in that direction.

The West Nordic Bioeconomy Panel report can be found here.

Matís' role and role in education and training of students is great and the company has strong connections with many reputable foreign universities.

Many domestic and foreign students from all over the world have benefited from the guidance of Matís researchers and the excellent facilities that the company can offer students. They consider Matís an exciting option due to how well the company is connected to both the university environment and companies, as most of the student projects are of the nature that scientific projects are being carried out with practicality in mind.

Attached is a picture of the foreign students who are in Matís at the beginning of 2019, but they are from Aruba, Denmark, England, France, Italy and Germany.