Category: News

Last week there was an interview with Ásthildur Björgvinsdóttir but her company, Ástrík, www.astrik.is, produces popcorn with caramel and sea salt, among other things. At the end of the interview, Ásthildur talked a bit about Matís and said that the company was "genius".

After this interview, everything went wrong at Matís when asked how the company can help entrepreneurs and smaller companies to bring food ideas to the production stage or bring less service to larger units for sale in Iceland and abroad.

But how can Matís help?

As Ásthildur put it, Matís is a brilliant company that enables parties to use legal and certified facilities, helps in these matters to begin with and provides suggestions and offers assistance.

We are not going to protest these words! 🙂

Want to know more about how Matís can help? Then take a look at our site, www.marsmidjan.is.

For further information Óli Þór Hilmarsson at Matís.

The interview with Ásthildur can be found on Bylgjan's website, www.bylgjan.is.

Lilja Rut Traustadóttir will give a lecture for a master's degree at the University of Iceland on 3 February. but her research is based on the methodology of total consumption research. The results of the study can be used for policy-making in public health and especially as advice to young women on the health of seafood.

The lecture will take place in Askja, room N-132, on February 3 at 15-16.

On research on the total consumption of foreign substances

Matís is a participant in an interesting European project (www.tds-exposure.eu) where methods will be developed to estimate the amount of unwanted contaminants people get from food.

The project is called Total Diet Study Exposure Study, and is working in collaboration with 19 European countries and the project is partly funded by the 7th European Research Program (FP7).

Helga Gunnlaugsdóttir, director of Matís, is Matís' main contact in this project and she provides further information about the research.

Sindri Rafn Sindrason gives a lecture on her project for a master's degree in industrial engineering. The name of the project is "Increased capacity for cooling mackerel". 

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the possibility of combining two existing cooling systems, Refrigerated Sea Water system (RSW) and Chilled Sea Water (CSW), to see if the outcome could be beneficial for fisheries to implement in their production. The main principle behind the idea is to add ice, preferably slurry ice, to help the RSW system to cool the catch down to an optimum temperature. The anatomy of the mackerel is discussed as well as seasonal variation and other important aspects of the species.

A closer look into the two cooling systems in question as well as the Icelandic mackerel quota was taken. One of the main objectives was to calculate the ice requirements for the different cooling systems, as well as compare their oil consumption and cooling rate of the product. Similar cooling treatments can also be used at other stages in the production line. Therefore the study also included a small experiment on using slurry ice to pre-cool the processed mackerel before plate freezing. The project is part of the Nordic master's program AQFood.

Supervisors

• Sigurjón Arason, professor at the University of Iceland and chief engineer at Matís
• María Guðjónsdóttir, lecturer at the University of Iceland
• Aberham Hailu Feyissa, lecturer at DTU
• Ólafur Pétur Pálsson, professor at the University of Iceland

Examiner

• Sveinn Víkingur Árnason, managing director of Vínbúðin

When does this event start: 

January 28, 2016 - 3:00 p.m.

Event location: 

VR-II

Further location: 

Living room 138

Several women in Austur-Húnavatnssýsla came together recently and discussed possibilities for home-made food in the district. Subsequently, it was decided to call a meeting where Óli Þór Hilmarsson from Matís will give a presentation and education on what needs to be done to get this started, but this is stated in www.huni.is.

Further information about the meeting in Blönduós can be found at www.huni.is.

Information about Matís' Food Workshops can be found at www.matis.is/matarsmidjur.

Recently, Margildi received a so-called A license issued by the Food Administration for the production, sale and distribution of fish oil from pelagic fish, but such a license allows them to export their products to other European countries.

Although it is not the intention to start large-scale production of fish oil here at Matarsmiðja Matís on Vínlandsleið, the permit is nevertheless a condition for being able to send products for promotion to both domestic and foreign markets. Margildi is the third company to receive an A license in Matarsmiðja Matís in Reykjavík. Arctic seafood was the first to receive such a license for its cancer processing and about a month ago, Trít received its A license, but Trít's main activity is to prepare food gift baskets. Trít's activities here at Matís are about the production of products from wild geese, such as goose beef and goose liver mousse, as well as accompanying side dishes such as onion jam and a special sauce.

The fact that three companies have export licenses to Europe for their products, in addition to which several entrepreneurs and small producers have a license from the Reykjavík Health Inspectorate, confirms that Matís' facilities on Vínlandsleið meet the requirements for food companies.

Licenses are granted in two ways in this country. Matvælastofnun supervises and issues operating licenses for products from the animal kingdom, while the Health Inspectorate grants licenses and supervises products from the plant kingdom. The subjects of those who have an operating license from the Health Inspectorate are of various kinds; Early whiskey production, beer brewing, chocolate making, cookie baking, dough making, mustard making, juicing and making buns, are examples of products that are already in production and expected in the coming weeks are snack making and dessert making.

For further information Óli Þór Hilmarsson at Matís and further information about Matís food factories can be found www.matis.is/matarsmidjur/

Alda Möller says something like this in an interesting interview with Intrafish recently. Intrafish is a news provider on fisheries issues, but Alda is a former employee of the Fisheries Research Institute (IFL is Matís' predecessor).

The interview is called "Women in Seafood" and can be found in its entirety at Intrafish website.

The International Scientific Journal Icelandic Agricultural Sciences, year 28/2015 is now fully completed on the publication's website http://www.ias.is, but Matís is one of its publishers.

The publication contains six articles, totaling 80 pages. This is also the first cohort where all articles have a so-called doi (digital object identifier) number that makes it easier for researchers around the world to find electronic versions of cited articles. With this change, IAS was also changed to pure electronic copy and is no longer printed. 

The latest article in year 28/2015 has just arrived on the web: Inoculation with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi, fertilization and seed rates influence growth and development of lyme grass seedlings in two desert areas in Iceland by Úlf Óskarsson and Wolfgang Heyser. The article discusses the effects of fungal protein infection in the cultivation of weeds in two sandy areas in the South. In addition to the effects of the fungal protein infestation, the effects of different fertilizer and seed doses were also tested.

It was interesting that the fungal protein increased its growth in the first year but then its positive effect diminished and they disappeared over time and even became negative. However, fertilizer increased growth and sand accumulation more than other treatments, and re-fertilization had a greater effect on the size of the initial dose of fertilizer. It seemed most economical to use small doses of seeds and fertilizers in the beginning, but follow with moderate fertilizer for a few years after sowing.

This long-term study reported here is very interesting for those who cultivate land with weeds and use it to stop sand drifts and shows how necessary it is to follow revegetation experiments and revegetation for many years.

Ecotrophelia Iceland is a competition among university students in the development of environmentally friendly food. The competition involves developing marketable, environmentally friendly foods or beverages. The competition is held annually in the second half of May.

The registration of student groups who want to take part in the competition this year is currently underway. Each group may have two to ten students enrolled in tertiary education. They can be from any field of study, but it is desirable that someone in the group has knowledge of food. Students must not be 35 years of age or older. The winning team wins a grand prize and the right to take part in an international competition, Ecotrophelia Europe, https://eu.ecotrophelia.org/en/about-us , in Paris in October.

Guidance on the development process

Once the groups have registered for the game, they will have access to online teaching materials that will guide them through all aspects of the development process. The groups will be provided with facilities for practical tests.

The deadline for submitting registration is 31 January 2016.

Further information is provided by Gunnþórunn Einarsdóttir and the registrations for the competition will be sent to her: gunnthorunn.einarsdottir@matis.is

One of the issues that Matís oversees and builds on an old heritage is collaboration on the utilization of grain for food production. Agriculture in the North Atlantic countries has a cool climate and a short growing season for plants.

Despite this, farmers in Iceland have been cultivating grain in recent decades and have mastered the crop. Iceland is in the northern part of the cereal belt and from time to time weak grain-growing rivers occur. The Agricultural University of Iceland and its predecessor, the Agricultural Research Institute, Rala, have made grain cultivation in Iceland possible through grain breeding and the dissemination of knowledge to farmers. Cereal breeding began in the 1960s and the work has been continuous for more than 50 years. Breeding has been successful and varieties suitable for conditions in Iceland have emerged. The food department was operated within Rala from 1977 and with the cooperation of food scientists and farmers, interest was sparked in increasing the utilization of domestic grain for food production. Some activities within Matís can still be traced to Rala's food department and the knowledge that was built up there is constantly being developed.

In 2005, work began on projects aimed at utilizing domestic cereals for food production, and they were funded by the Agricultural Productivity Fund. This work then developed into co-operation between the North Atlantic countries, which was supported by Nordic co-operation and the Arctic Strategy.

Domestic grain is primarily barley, but it is well suited for a variety of foods. In bread it is used in conjunction with flour and the barley provides a good taste and health benefits such as beta-glucans which lower blood cholesterol and reduce blood sugar fluctuations. Other barley foods include biscuits, cereals, porridge and ready meals. Finally, barley is used to produce malt, which is one of the most important raw materials in brewing.

Global warming is changing growing conditions, and some crops in the southern hemisphere may be more difficult to grow than ever before. This creates increased pressure on feed and food production in the northern regions. Utilization of domestic grain increases food security and increases sustainability in food and feed production in Iceland.

For further information Ólafur Reykdal, food scientist at Matís.

Matís' annual report has been published. This time, the main subject of the report is the good foundation that has been built up by Matís and Matís' predecessors in recent decades. The importance of the institutions and companies that merged when Matís was founded in 2007 is still very much in Matís' operations to this day.

Matís Annual Report 2015

For further information Steinar B. Aðalbjörnsson, marketing director of Matís.