Category: News

It's out Matís report summarizing the results of monitoring unwanted substances in edible parts of seafood in 2017. The monitoring began in 2003 with the help of the then Ministry of Fisheries, the current Ministry of Industry and Innovation, and Matís was responsible for collecting data and publishing reports on this systematic 2003 monitoring. 2012.

The first measurements from 2013 - but only cover the edible part, not the feed part

In recent years, there has been a lack of funds to continue work on this monitoring project, and therefore this important data collection was suspended as well as the publication of results in the period 2013-2016. The project started again in March 2017, but due to a lack of funds, it now only covers the monitoring of undesirable substances in edible parts of seafood from the resource intended for human consumption, and not fishmeal and fish oil for feed. For the same reason, no chemical analyzes were performed on PAH, PBDE and PFC substances this time.

The aim of the project is to demonstrate the position of Icelandic seafood in terms of safety and health and to use the data in the risk assessment of food to ensure the interests of consumers and public health. The project builds a knowledge base on the amount of undesirable substances in economically important species and marine products, it is defined as a long-term project where monitoring and review is constantly necessary.

In general, the results obtained in 2017 were in line with previous results from 2003 to 2012. The results showed that Icelandic seafood contains an insignificant amount of persistent organic pollutants such as dioxins, PCBs and pesticides.

Icelandic seafood is far below the EU maximum values

EU maximum levels for dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs (DL-PCBs) in food and feed were lowered on 1 January 2012 (EU Regulation No. 1259/2011) and maximum levels were set for "non-dioxin-like" PCBs (NDL-PCBs) for the first time ). The new maximum values are used in this report to assess how Icelandic seafood meets EU requirements. The results for 2017 show that despite the change in maximum levels for dioxins, DL-PCBs and NDL-PCBs, all samples of marine products for human consumption are below the EU maximum levels for persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals. The concentration of so-called ICES6-PCBs was found to be low in the edible part of fish, compared to the new maximum EU values. The results also showed that the concentration of heavy metals, such as cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg) in Icelandic seafood was always below the EU maximum values.

On the importance of monitoring

High-quality and well-defined scientific data on undesirable substances in Icelandic seafood is a key factor in demonstrating the status of Icelandic seafood, e.g. safety and health. The export of Icelandic food depends on being able to demonstrate their safety, taking into account laws, regulations and market requirements. Scientific data from independent researchers is also important in market presentations of seafood for potential buyers and strengthens all marketing work for Icelandic seafood. The data are also used for risk assessment of food and to influence the setting of maximum levels for contaminants in food.

Additional material: Guðmundur Fertram Sigurjónsson on how Kerecis' marketing authorization in the United States is subject to regular Hafró and Matís measurements around the country. Morgunblaðið 18 January, p. 98 (subscription to Morgunblaðið is required to read this article).

At the beginning of each year since 2011, Matís has delighted its customers, partners and other stakeholders by sending out, at 09:30, 2 January, an annual report on the company's operations in the past year in electronic form.

This year, Matís sent out several accounts of the company's operations in 2017 including a summary of how the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals, ie. The global goals are related to Matís' operations. 

World Goals 17 (e. Sustainable Development Goals; SDG 17) are ambitious, but ambition is exactly one of the four values of Matís. Each Global Goal also has a number of sub-goals that better explain the milestone towards 2030. In total, the milestones are 169. The Global Goals do not differentiate between developing and developed countries, unlike the Millennium Development Goals from 2000 to 2015, as the fate of the entire world is under. 

Matís is not just Ma… something. Food research is a key factor in the development and value creation of the food industry; Matís' operations are therefore complex and extensive. In short, the world's goals are all around Matís' policy and operations.

The new application deadline for Milk in many forms is approx. to slide his pace. If you want help getting your idea even further, please get in touch.

Visit the website for more information: www.mimm.is/

A survey concerning Matís' measurement services was sent out recently. The participation was excellent and the results satisfactory.

The overwhelming majority of the parties that traded in Matís' metering services were Happy with the service at Matís and most Very happy. These results are easy to like, but we can still do better and we will use the results of the survey to further improve the service.

Two new articles were being published in the international scientific journal Icelandic Agricultural Sciences. A total of 8 articles have been published in issue 30/2017.

The first article, Impact of sheep grazing on the Icelandic ecosystem , is by Bryndís Marteinsdóttir and two other authors. The authors give an overview of research and writing on the effects of sheep grazing on pastures in Iceland and went through 347 articles for that work. Only 44 of them had reliable statistical data to perform a meta-analysis of the effects of grazing on various ecological aspects of pastures, but these articles were based on 16 different studies. The other data reported too simple observations, were retellings from usable data or were more or less the opinions of the authors in question. The conclusion was that for most ecological variables, research was published too little to be able to draw general conclusions from them through a collective analysis. Significant effects were found that on grazing land there was more erosion in the vegetation cover and that grazing had a significant effect on the vegetation communities.

It is certainly noteworthy how many holes are in the theoretical knowledge of the effects of pasture grazing in Iceland with regard to how long there is a tradition of sheep grazing. This clearly requires a great deal of effort in order for the discussion on grazing to take place on a more solid theoretical basis, where facts are based and it is possible to make informed decisions.

In this short article, The effect of soil type on barley harvest in Icelandic cultivation experiments, Hrannar Smári Hilmarsson and co-authors use results from a number of building experiments at the Experimental Station at Korpa by Úlfarsá and show that there is a considerable difference in the harvest of barley crops according to soil type. In some genotypes it did not seem to matter whether it was bog or peat soil, but in others the soil type had quite an effect. It seems that late-ripening varieties give very little yield in peat soil, while early-ripening 6-row barley tends to shed grain in the wind if it is grown on peat soil, but reaches less maturity but also gives more yield on peat soil. On the whole, the grain weight is higher in dry land than in peat soil.

This article is a summary that will be useful to growers when choosing a seed product and shows that the design of the arable land is very important.

At the end of November 2017, a two-day working meeting was held in the town of Gander in Newfoundland to discuss how Newfoundlanders can prepare for increased cod fishing, but it is expected that the cod stock will recover in the coming years. 

As most people know, there was a complete collapse of the Canadian cod stock a quarter of a century ago, which ended with all cod fishing being banned in 1992. At that time, fishing went from about 300 thousand tons a year to nothing, almost overnight. Catches from the stock had been even higher a decade earlier, when annual catches reached 800,000 tonnes, at its peak. This was followed by redundancies and unemployment figures that have not been seen before or since in Newfoundland.

Now the stock is starting to show signs that it is something to come and fishing is allowed up to about 10 thousand tons this year. However, there have been few changes in the fleet and processing since the ban came into force, so the industry is not at all prepared for increased fishing. The workshop, which was attended by about 200 people, discussed how best to build the industry - as stated in the title of the workshop, which was "cod - building the industry for the future" (Cod - Building the Fishery of the Future). ). Among other things, experts from Norway and Iceland were brought in to present the state of affairs in their fishing, processing and marketing. In addition, various experts in marketing and market analysis were called in to give good advice. Ögmundur Knútsson from the University of Akureyri, Axel Helgason from the National Association of Small Boat Owners and Jónas R. Viðarsson from Matís were called in from Iceland. There was a consensus in their approach that Newfoundlanders need to invest enormously in fishing and processing to ensure the right quality and that they do not have to invent the wheel when it comes to it. Icelandic companies have the knowledge and solutions they can use. They also urged Newfoundlanders not to regard other cod fishing nations as competitors, it is in the interest of all of us that Newfoundlanders be able to produce cod products of the highest quality and that it will actually strengthen and expand the market for all producers' products. If, on the other hand, Newfoundlanders do not fulfill their responsibility to produce cod products of the right quality, it will possibly have a negative effect on the market for other cod fishing nations.

The innovation companies KeyNatura and Margildi have started a formal collaboration between them and have signed an agreement to that effect. The companies operate in both the production and sale of Icelandic health products, including astaxanthin and herring fish oil, but Margildi has, among other things, collaborated with Matís. 

The innovation companies KeyNatura and Margildi have entered into a formal co-operation between themselves and have signed an agreement to that effect. The companies operate in both the production and sale of Icelandic hygiene products, including astaxanthin and herring fish oil. Together they have developed a new unique blend in the field of hygiene products called AstaLýsi. AstaLýsi is available in the main pharmacies and health food stores, such as Lyfja, Heilsuhúsið, Mamma Veit Best and Lyf & Heilsa. More outlets are expected in the coming months.

KeyNatura

KeyNatura is a dynamic biotechnology company specializing in algae cultivation for the food supplement and pharmaceutical market. The company started operations in 2014 and produces the material Astaxanthin, which is a natural antioxidant produced from algae. The company offers consumers high quality products that strengthen health and there are three products newly launched on the market; AstaOrka, AstaOmega and now AstaLýsi. Astaxanthin is one of nature's most powerful antioxidants and has a variety of effects on the body. Astaxanthin is known for beneficial effects on the skin, cardiovascular system, endurance and energy recovery after exertion.

Margildi

Margildi produces tasty herring halibut which is available, for example, from Hagkaup, Fisherman's fishmonger and Frú Lauga under the Fisherman brand, but has also been sold to the United States and Europe. Margildi's Herring Fillet received the international quality award "The Superior Taste Award" iTQi recently. summer and its consumption is considered a pleasurable experience according to consumer reviews.

The plural also has in collaboration with Matís and several Icelandic food producers have developed solutions to utilize the herring oil as an Omega-3 source in foods such as fish cakes, fresh pasta, peanut butter, skyr, butter, hummus, cold sauces and dips, snacks and bread. In this way, the nutritional value of these foods will be even higher than they would otherwise be.

For more information

• Baldur Ólafsson, Marketing Director of KeyNatura, baldur@keynatura.com, 893-6988
• Snorri Hreggviðsson, CEO of Margildi, snorri@margildi.is, 862-2442

Svavar Hávarðsson at Fiskifréttir published an article about Lava Seafood the other day, but the company is a fast-growing company where employees have largely received their education from Matís.

Lava Seafood is a young company that specializes in exporting seafood and has grown rapidly. The company now employs ten people, but a third of them have received a degree in food science with the involvement of Matís. In the near future, an employee will be added to the Lava Seafood staff, who received important training from one of Matís' predecessors, the Fisheries Research Institute. Lava Seafood started operating seafood exports to Nigeria in 2014.

The development work is the key

Kristmann Pálmason, CEO of Lava Seafood, witnessed the importance and significance of research and development work in connection with Iceland's business interests when the company took its first steps abroad. It is well known that falling oil prices have had a major impact on the purchasing power of the population in countries such as Nigeria. In addition, the Nigerian government is taking action to increase the self-sufficiency of Nigerians in food production. These included measures to restrict the import of food such as dried seafood from Iceland. Exchange rates, access to currencies and tariffs had an effect, the volume and value of exports from here decreased. This had an effect both economically and imaginatively, as lower sales of special marine products reduced Icelanders' utilization of marine catch.

According to Kristmann, the fact is that although people want to enter a perfect market with products and services, in most cases there are big problems, that nowhere can you really talk about a perfect market. In many places, there are portals that only public bodies can open.

Knowledge building

Therefore, a business delegation went to Nigeria last year, led by Lilja Alfreðsdóttir, the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, but even though the delegation entered through a previously closed portal, the conversation with the hosts was limited.

"The conversation with the Nigerian government, the Minister of Finance of Nigeria, first started when the educational and research collaboration on the utilization of marine resources, which Matís and the United Nations University Fisheries School (UNU-FTP) have established, came into play. The Nigerian Minister of Finance opened the door for Icelandic officials at the Directorate of Customs of Nigeria in direct continuation of the discussion on research and development cooperation, "says Kristmann, adding that Matís and UNU-FTP have taken great strides in developing Icelandic research on marine products. It is very important to take advantage of what has been achieved and build knowledge of what we have in hand in the first place, and on the other hand what we are actually selling into all of our fish markets, especially in terms of health, protein and reliability. . It is important to link the innovation to well-known markets such as Nigeria as well as to look for new markets.

Talented people to the country

As Fiskifréttir has recently reported, the multinational network of the scientific community in Matís has attracted talented people to the country who the Icelandic fisheries sector can utilize in a targeted manner with regard to knowledge of and access to new markets. The World Seafood Congress, organized by Matís with the support of financial and fisheries companies, is worth mentioning. The conference was an important contribution to the international debate, according to Kristmann. The conference was attended by scholars, ministers and company executives in connection with the fishing industry of the future.

Kristmann says that Icelandic companies should strive to utilize the knowledge and human resources that Matís has built up through mutual cooperation. That's what Lava Seafood did; used the Matís scientific community to prepare a variety of projects abroad. The company does business with companies in over 30 countries and is based on the belief that knowledge can be sold everywhere.

"Matís can be called a common denominator for the Icelandic knowledge that is so sought after when it comes to value creation from marine resources," says Kristmann.

This article first appears in Fish news December 18 sl. 

Matís staff wishes its customers and all Icelanders a Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year.

Recently, Jón Atli Benediktsson, Rector of the University of Iceland, and Sveinn Margeirsson, CEO of Matís, wrote an article that was published in Fréttablaðið on 30 November.

There is a good and successful collaboration between Matís and the University of Iceland. An agreement is in force on teaching and research, and it covers, among other things, the sharing of resources and infrastructure, co-operation on research and the development of human resources with the aim of being at the forefront of key areas of Icelandic society.

The agreement between the University of Iceland and Matís laid the foundation for the strengthening of theoretical and practical education in the field of food research and food safety, as well as co-operation in other fields of teaching and research. A total of 64 master's and 23 doctoral projects have been carried out at Matís since 2007, most of them with the University of Iceland.

Sustainable food production is the key to fulfillment global goals of the United Nations. The collaboration between Matís and the University of Iceland also includes a collaboration with the United Nations University's Fisheries School, which operates in Iceland and has supported five doctoral students to complete their studies at the Faculty of Food and Nutrition at the University of Iceland in collaboration with Matís. Iceland is one of the leading fisheries nations in the world and certainly has a lot to contribute to increased food security and welfare in developing countries.

With valuable experience in the bag and an unwavering belief in the value of science for development, Matís and the University of Iceland aim for continued strong collaboration in the coming years. Among the priorities of this co-operation will be the necessary infrastructure development in the field of food and research aimed at the sustainable utilization of life resources on land and at sea.

The article can be read in its entirety here.