Category: News

Saltfish is a quality product, but the image of saltfish among Icelanders has been under attack. Matís, in collaboration with Icelandic, Norwegian and Faroese experts in saltfish processing and quality, cooking, food production, communication and the travel industry, has dedicated the month of March 2024 to saltfish. It is the hope of the project's relatives that the image of saltfish will be turned around because it is important that saltfish is part of our Icelandic food culture, we know it and that we are proud of it.

The Saltfish delicacies project was launched in 2022 and aimed to strengthen the position of saltfish in the domestic market. A workshop organized by the food company clearly revealed that the salted fish has endless possibilities when it comes to the preparation of dishes, and the possibilities are truly there. However, the image that saltfish seems to have here in Iceland needs to be changed, so that saltfish is or should be surf salt. Properly drained salted fish should not really be very salty, it should just have a faint salty taste. It has also been observed that (light/night) salted fish is sold as salted fish, but these are completely different products.

Properly watered salted fish has a characteristic flavor, even reminiscent of butter, and the texture of the fish is firm. The aforementioned workshop was very successful, and it featured a number of ideas on how to support the image that salted fish is truly a gourmet product.

In the sequel, emphasis was placed on the development of prepared dishes and recipes based on traditional dehydrated salt fish. We worked from the point of view of making it easier for consumers to prepare salted fish delicacies without much effort.

Now in the month of March, saltfish month has been launched in collaboration with Krónuna, which will offer for sale ready-made dishes made from dehydrated saltfish and dehydrated saltfish from chef Grími, which is the result of this work. The products are available in Krónun Lindum, Grandi, Flatahrauni, Bíldshöfði, Skeifun, Mosfellsbær, Selfoss, Akureyri and in Vestmannaey.

A wide variety of information and recipes for delicious salted fish dishes can be found on the project page here: Salted fish delicacies

Since 2011, Matís' microbiology department has taken regular Legionella samples for several hotels in Reykjavík. This sampling is to ensure the safety of hotel guests, but in recent decades there have been cluster infections in hotels around the world. 

The Legionella bacteria can cause two types of disease. Pontiac fever and Legionnaires' disease. Pontiac fever is a milder symptom of Legionella infection and is accompanied by flu-like symptoms, such as bone pain, fever, chills, and headache. Hepatitis causes an infection in the lungs and the symptoms are cough, shortness of breath, high fever, muscle pain and headache. Nausea, vomiting and diarrhea may also occur. The death rate for soldier sickness is 5-10% according to World Health Organization. Between 2020 and 2023, two to ten people a year fell ill from Legionella in Iceland.

Since the establishment of Matís ohf in 2007, we have tested more than 1100 samples for Legionella. This is both regular monitoring and also samples where Legionella is suspected to be present. In total, we have found Legionella in 69 samples from nine different sources. It has been found in hotels, nursing homes, senior housing, apartment buildings, cooling towers and cargo ships.

When is Legionella looked for in samples? Many companies such as hotels take samples for Legionella to ensure the safety of guests and as a precaution, as the reputational damage caused by a Legionella group infection in a hotel can be so great that the hotel is forced to stop operations after a Legionella group infection. There are many examples of this abroad, although it has not happened in this country.

In the new drinking water directive from the European Union from 2020, the risk analysis of housing is discussed. There are requirements for building owners to ensure that there is nothing harmful to health in the building such as Legionella in the plumbing system. There must not be more than 1000 Legionella bacteria in one liter of water. 

The National Food Agency, the National Health Service and the Environment Agency have published good ones instructions for the public. There is information and guidance on how to reduce the risk of Legionella infection.

Matís and the Icelandic Marine and freshwater Research Institute are leading a new international ISK 1.2 billion research and innovation project designed to address climate change and the threat to marine biodiversity. The project received funding from the European Union's Research Program, Horizon Europe, mission ocean.

The BioProtect project led by Matís and the Norwegian Marine Research Institute (Hafró) is about developing methodologies and technical solutions to facilitate decision-making about resource utilization or the protection of ocean areas. Emphasis is placed on good cooperation with economic partners, which are, for example, shipping companies and fisheries associations, municipalities and especially fishing communities, national and international governments, nature conservation organizations, research partners, policy makers and experts. The biodiversity of the sea will be monitored so that it will be possible to account for its status and predict possible changes. There will also be extensive mapping of the use and impact of humans on individual sea areas and species in the sea. An action plan for the prioritization of conservation and restoration measures will also be prepared, as well as an assessment of the ecological, social and economic effects of these conservation measures in five ocean areas, ie by Iceland, Norway, Ireland, Portugal and the Azores.

A total of 18 companies and organizations from across Europe are participating in the project, which is managed by Dr. Sophie Jensen, project manager at Matís. She is so faithfully supported by Dr. Julian Burgos of the Norwegian Marine Research Institute, who is the scientific leader of the project. It is a great honor and trust that Matís and the Institute of Marine Research are shown by being elected to lead this group of many of the best scientists in Europe in their field.

It is clear that the project will generate a lot of knowledge that will be useful to Icelandic society in the years to come to deal with climate change and the human threat to marine biodiversity. It is also nice to report that, through the project, 320 million ISK of international funding is being secured into Icelandic society.

The BioProtect project contributes, among other things, to European nations achieving the main goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreement, which was signed at the end of 2022. It stipulates that states must protect 30% of ocean and land areas by 2030, and that agreement has been signed by more than 200 countries, including Iceland.

From the Hafranósnastofnun website:

The main goal of the Kumning-Montreal Convention is to protect biological diversity, which is now declining at a much faster rate than in known geohistorical time. Biodiversity is a complex term that can refer to genetic variation, species diversity, diversity in the characteristics of organisms, and more. Biodiversity is the basis of resource utilization as it ensures resilience in ecosystems, among other things against rapid environmental changes, such as climate change and ocean acidification. The stakes are therefore high that this goal will be achieved.

Matís in Neskaupstað recently started measuring Salmonella and Listeria monocytogenis by PCR method. In the past months, efforts have been made to offer new, fast methods for microbial measurements in food and feed using PCR technology as well as rotamine measurements in flour. "We are happy to report that the introduction of this technology greatly increases the service we can provide to our customers," says Stefán Eysteinsson, station manager.

With this method, it is possible to process samples faster and better, but it is only necessary to pre-cultivate Salmonella for 24 hours and Listeria for two days in a traditional bacterial medium before performing a PCR test.

"The total analysis time for Salmonella is therefore shortened from 4 days to 1 day and for Listeria from 6 days to 2 days."

This means that it is possible to detect bacteria in samples earlier and then react appropriately.

Rotamines (biogenic amines) have been used in recent years as certain indicators of the quality of flour, and the fishmeal industry in the region has called for it to be possible to carry out rotamine measurements at Matís' workplace in Neskaupstaður. With the arrival of an HPLC device at the facility, it will now be possible to measure rotamine in flour in Neskaupstaður. It is expected that the arrival of the device will shorten the waiting time for results and increase the variety of measurements in Neskaupstaður.

The adoption of these new methods at the Neskaupstað facility is a sign of the continued development of Matís in the countryside, but it is clear that these methods will be crucial for customers.

On this occasion, we at Matís in Neskaupstaðar would like to invite you to visit us on Wednesday, March 6 at 16:00, at Múlann, Bakkavegi 5.

It would be great to see as many of you as possible. Please confirm your arrival and expected number by entering your name and email address here!

Fish news recently published an article discussing an exciting project that was worked on at Matís in collaboration with chef Dóra Svavarsdóttir and it was about experiments with dry emaciation or so-called dry-age effect on fish which is considered promising.  

The article talks to Dóra, who worked on the research project together with Cecile Dargentolle, project manager in the field of value chain at Matís, specializing in fish. The dry-age method of action is well known and has been applied to meat to make it softer and more tender, but in this study it was used on fish to keep it fresh longer and the texture becomes firmer.

In the project, experiments were carried out with whole fish but also with fish fillets. They specifically looked at one white fish species and one oily freshwater species and chose haddock and char. The goal was to find the right temperature and humidity to increase the shelf life of the fish in a completely controlled environment.

With this dry-age effect, it is not at all a case of dried fish, like hard fish, or that the fish will be shriveled, as there is no fermentation involved. The result is fresh fish that is cooked in the traditional way and can become an exciting ingredient for a variety of restaurants.

The project was carried out with a grant from the Food Fund, and they are now aiming to apply for a grant for a follow-up project in order to conduct further research and prepare guidelines for this method of action for different types of fish, which would then be accessible to more people.

The article can be read in its entirety on the Fiskifretta website here: An experiment with dry emaciation of fish is said to be promising

On the 5th-6th Last February, the kick-off meeting of the BIO2REG project took place. The project aims to transform large industrial areas into a circular economy.

Jülich Forschungszentrum in Germany leads the project and there are a total of 9 participants, including Matís. Iceland's role is to hold a specialized workshop or so-called Expert Workshop in this country where we present, together with our partners from RISE in Sweden, what has gone well in Iceland when it comes to adopting a circular economy and what should be avoided. 

The organization of the project, the role of each participant and what is to be done in the coming months and years were reviewed at the meeting. BIO2REG will pave the way for economic operators to actively initiate and shape the transition to environmentally friendly production based on a region-to-region approach. There are exciting times ahead and we are very much looking forward to having foreign experts visit the Expert Workshop at the beginning of September.

Matís project site: BIO2REG: Transformation of industrial areas into a circular economy

Project page of the project (in English): BIO2REG

The NextGenProteins project ended at the end of 2023. It is the largest project that has ever been funded by Matís, and work on it lasted from 2019. One of the final products of the project is brochure where the main results of each part of the project are reviewed and it is now available as a pdf. form on the NextGenProteins website.

The aim of the project was, among other things, to examine the government's regulations and policies when it comes to new protein sources, analyze production obstacles and submit strategic proposals to simplify and change the government's regulations and policies towards a more sustainable food system. NextGenProteins also aimed to produce high-quality, safe, nutritious and sustainable protein sources by utilizing industrial by-products that are traditionally wasted.

All the main goals of the NextGenProteins project were achieved and such success can pave the way for innovation and new solutions to the challenges facing the current world food system. The production of the proteins examined in the project has less negative environmental impact than most traditional protein production. It is important to take that factor into account when thinking about how to meet the increased demand for protein production along with increased population growth in the world.

In the attached booklet, which is in English, the supervisors of each part of the project review the main results. In addition, Birgir Örn Smárason, professional manager at Matís and project manager of NextGenProteins, tells about his experience of the project work and its outcome.

The NextGenProteins project page is available here: NextGenProteins – Development of next generation proteins from underutilized resources for use in food and feed

• Are you interested in food?
• Do you want to participate in the development of a sustainable food culture?
• How do you think food in schools should be made healthier and more sustainable?
• Do you want to meet other young people from the Nordic countries with an interest in food?

What food event is this?

• Youth madmøde
• Location: Engestofte Gods in Lolland, Denmark.
• Date: 30 May 2024
• The event is divided into three parts: a cooking school, a food camp and a seminar on food in schools.
• Part of Madens folkemøde which will be held on May 31 -1. June.

What would my role be at the event?

• Participate in preparing Icelandic dishes/food for tasting
• Participate in discussions at the forum
• Travel and subsistence expenses are paid.

Conditions for participation:

• Be between the ages of 16-18
• Have an interest in food and cooking
• Can communicate in English, Danish, Norwegian and/or Swedish

How can I apply to participate?

Submit a short video (about 2-3 minutes, taken on a phone) at thorav@matis.is and report:

• Name, age, school/program (if studying).
• Why you want to join.
• Whether you have attended courses related to food, eg health, cooking, sustainability.
• Experience cooking.

Application deadline March 8, 2024.

Answers to applications will be answered no later than March 18, 2024.

Horticultural farms produce a huge amount of by-products that can be used in a variety of productions. Leaves can be used in spice mixes and fiber can be extracted from them to be added to foods. Antioxidant activity was measured in various by-products and it was found that rose cuttings can be used in cosmetics such as facial creams. This is stated in the recently published final report of the project Valorisation of side streams from Icelandic horticulture which Matís led and finished at the end of 2023. The project was carried out in collaboration with the Farmers' Association of Iceland and Orkídea with a grant from the Food Fund.

The aim of the project was to explore the possibility of using diverse by-products from gardening as ingredients for food, nutritional supplements or cosmetics. The side products under investigation were cucumber and tomato leaves, leaves of outdoor cauliflower and broccoli as well as leaves and stems from floriculture. It was also examined whether the use of second-class carrots and potatoes could be improved. All this was studied with a view to increasing the value of vegetable production, improving utilization and increasing sustainability.

Nutritious leaves and low heavy metal concentration

It was surprising how much various nutrients were measured in the side products. Significant amounts of fiber were measured in leaves, stems and carrot grass. The diet of Icelanders often contains too little fiber, but it would be possible to use these substances to improve it. The by-products were generally found to be rich in minerals, particularly potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium and iron. Heavy metals were not measurable or their concentrations were extremely low. These results encourage the utilization of by-products in food. When using new products for food, however, food safety must always be considered, as some plants contain unwanted natural substances to protect the plant. When plant parts have not previously been used for human consumption, it is necessary to check which rules apply to food.

Premium raw materials with the right processing methods

Deep-fried carrot strips could be a premium product to top off fancy dishes, as a snack or side dish. In the project, experiments were carried out with this processing method, and lightly salted, deep-fried beet strips turned out to be the most delicious. The taste was roasted/roasted, slightly bitter and reminiscent of coffee bean notes. The texture was crispy and the taste extremely delicious. Comparable products on the market are, for example, fried onions and potato straws (pik-nik).

Rose petals and branches with unexpected functions

A report on the results of the study can be accessed in its entirety on Matís' website here: Valorisation of side streams from Icelandic horticulture