Category: News

Matís is currently working on a large-scale study where experiments are carried out with the freezing of salmon using magnetic and sound wave freezing in collaboration with Kælismiðjuna Frost and the seafood company Odda in Patreksfjörður.

This freezing method is a novelty in this country and it is mostly unknown in Europe but slightly known in Asia. It is estimated that the experiments will take six months, so the first results could be available in the middle of next year. The intention is to get a picture of how ultrasonically frozen salmon fillets react compared to conventional blast freezing, and not least of all the effects of such freezing on the product in the long term.

During traditional blast freezing, Sigurður J. Bergsson, Frost's technical director, says that the cell walls in the fish flesh burst and the cell liquid should thus clear its way out. When the fish fillet is thickened, the liquid leaks out and the quality of the fish decreases considerably. With the magnetic and sound wave freezing, the cell walls are prevented from bursting and the liquid from leaving the fish flesh. This keeps the freshness of the product. "The market has increased demands for fresh frozen products, and with this freezing method we believe that the seafood industry can meet them with the supply of fresh seafood with a much longer shelf life than is possible today," says Sigurður.

Magnetic and acoustic wave freezing can be described as a green technology with high energy efficiency, where sound waves are used to control and reduce the structure of crystals in fish and meat. Sigurður says this method improves the freezing process and speeds it up, it produces more uniform and smaller ice crystals, it slows down oxidation changes, which leads to significantly less damage to the food.

Sigurður says that the magnetic and sonic wave freezing has been tested on various types of products and preliminary results show that products frozen using this method taste almost as fresh.

It will be interesting to see what this research by Matís, Odda and Frost on salmon reveals. If it gives positive results and researchers become even more convinced of the feasibility of further developing this technology, Sigurður believes that the fishing companies will quickly take over. Kælismiðjan Frost and Matís have worked with the fishing industry on various solutions over the years, both for whiting and pelagic fish, so there is a lot of experience and trust. The goal is always to do even better for the fishing industry companies in the country.

A discussion from Kælismiðinn Frost about the project can be read in its entirety here: Frost introduces magnetic and acoustic wave freezing at the 2023 Marine Industry Conference

The Fisheries Conference was held in Harpa last week and there was a seminar dedicated to development in freezing technology. Sæmundur Elíasson, project manager at Matís, and Sigurjón Arason, chief engineer at Matís, gave a talk there. Sæmundur talked about recent technological developments in freezing and thawing, and Sigurjón about freezing before and after freezing. In the language institute, Sigurður Bergsson from Kælismiðinn Frost presented research on magnetic and sound wave freezing.

Matís took part in a research project this summer that was funded by the Student Innovation Fund. The research concerns the collection and use of blood from farmed salmon, and the project was carried out in collaboration with Slippinn-DNG, Samherja fish farm, Eim and the University of Akureyri.

Three students worked on the project this summer and carried out experiments with dry bleeding of salmon in slaughter, collection and analysis of salmon blood and evaluation of the effect of different bleeding methods on fillet quality. Salmon blood was collected at slaughter using equipment specially designed and built for the project. The nutritional values of the blood were studied and the quality and shelf life of the fillets were assessed using different methods, because it is important that the quality of the fish does not deteriorate during the process.

The results of the project provided design criteria useful for the development of technical solutions for dry bleeding of farmed salmon and also demonstrated that the dry bleeding process used did not have a negative effect on fillet quality. It is clear that the salmon blood itself can be a valuable by-product, it has multiple possibilities for utilization, is both iron and protein rich and could be a good food supplement for people. Considerable challenges lie in its collection and storage in large quantities for use, and this project is a good first step towards increased use and value creation of salmon blood.

Recently, an article appeared in the online magazine Horizon, the EU Research & Innovation Magazine, which discussed how people's attitudes towards various neoproteins have changed and developed in recent years.

The article included an interview with Birgi Örn Smárason, professional manager at Matís, about the NextGenProteins project that he has led for the past four years. In that project, the environmental impact, nutritional properties and consumer attitudes towards three neoproteins were investigated.

It was possible to produce three types of protein powder, from insects, spirulina from microalgae and single-cell protein from yeasts grown on forest residues. All types have good nutritional properties, so the powder can be used in both feed and food, and in addition, their production has a low environmental impact compared to most other food production.

Birgir Örn said in the interview that he truly believes that by educating consumers, big steps can be taken towards increased sustainability in people's diets and the world's food systems. In the project, various consumer surveys were conducted among a large number of people from Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Poland, Sweden and Great Britain.

It turned out that people's attitudes are mostly very positive towards spirulina and single-cell protein, but a little less towards insect protein. Although a protein powder made from mange has been developed specifically to improve attitudes towards this type of protein, only one in three could imagine tasting insects.

The article, entitled New foods can go from yucky to yummy as people's perceptions evolve, can be read in its entirety by clicking here.

On the 26th - 27th of September last Aarhus Food & Bio cluster in Denmark held the Food & Bio Global Summit 2023. The main theme of the conference was sustainability in food production with a focus on innovation. As was stated at the conference, the world's food systems have reached the limit of endurance, especially related to the effects of weather disturbances; global warming, floods, sea level rise, droughts, etc. Over 170 participants from around the world attended the conference which was packed with great lectures. 

One of the most important themes of the conference was to promote the Global Food Alliance, to connect and promote sustainability and innovation in food production. This vision is important in light of the Paris Agreement to keep the global temperature rise below 2°C relative to the average temperature at the beginning of industrialization. The treaty also aims to strengthen the capacity of the countries of the world to deal with the consequences of climate change.

One of the most serious consequences of climate change is the impact on the health and ability of ecosystems to produce food. The degradation of ecosystems will therefore lead to food shortages and famine. The idea behind the conference on the International Food Pact is that with the consensus and cooperation of everyone who works or is involved in research, innovation or political decisions, it will be possible to prevent disasters such as the loss of ecosystems and famine.

The conference had a dense program of lectures related to the above issues; cooperation, innovation, research and development. Connection meetings, speed dates, were also held, where each participant could connect with other participants in their professional field and thus expand their network.

The conference was well attended, and participants from around the world could be seen. One conference guest came from Iceland on behalf of Matís and she was very happy with the conference and the presentation. The issue of food production and the ability of ecosystems to withstand the challenges of the future ie. population growth and ecosystem decline due to catastrophic global warming is one of the most important challenges of our time.

The innovation and technological development that has taken place in the food industry is not only fast but also extremely interesting. Now, for example, it is possible to process meat from animal cells (cell-based proteins) and grow algae using high-tech methods, etc. There are challenges ahead in food production, but at the same time, solutions are being diligently worked on through the development of technological solutions and innovation alongside sustainable development and the strengthening of the circular economy. More information about the Food & Bio Global Summit 2023 can be found here:

Food & Bio Global Summit 2023 

The United Nations International Day for Food Waste was last September 29. On that day, the Environmental Agency presented the results of a new study on the extent of food waste in Iceland, but this was the first time that food waste has been measured in the entire food value chain according to the European Union's standard methodology. The Environmental Agency's coverage can be found here: Food waste in Icelandic households is below the European average.

It turned out that food waste per population in Iceland was about 160 kg in one year. About half came from primary production and about 40% from households. The results for food waste overall were quite similar to other European countries. However, it is not possible to stop there because the goal for the future is to greatly reduce food waste.

The Icelandic government has set ambitious goals to reduce food waste by 30% by 2025 and by 50% by 2030. The measurements currently available will be used as a baseline for these goals.

At Matís, many projects have been carried out that can help reduce food waste. In a project on the value chain of vegetables measurements were made of the storage conditions and suggestions were made to reduce the wastage of vegetables. Matís has been involved in increasing the full processing of seafood in Iceland and elsewhere in the world, and is currently working on projects that can added value from by-products of vegetable production and meat production. Food packaging has been the subject of much discussion, not least problems regarding packaging plastic and its recycling, but you can read about these issues in Matís's report. Packaging can be important for the preservation of food quality, but deterioration of food quality due to deficiencies in packaging and handling can lead to food waste.

In addition to these projects, there are many others underway at Matís that contribute in one way or another to the better utilization of food and by-products of food processing, the promotion of the circular economy and sustainability thinking. Matís' project can be viewed here:

In September of this year, a meeting was held in the SusKelpFood project in Bergen, Norway. The project is about developing innovative solutions in the production of safe, nutritious and tasty raw materials from kelp for food. 

Among the things developed in the project are new processing methods, such as drying and fermentation, of kelp (Saccharina latissima) and marine kernel (Alaria esculenta) to reduce energy consumption in production and increase the quality of final products. All aspects of the value chain will be studied from primary production to ready-to-eat food products. The food company Orkla, which among other things produces TORO products, is participating in the project and will develop new products for the food market that contain kelp.

The project is funded by the Research Council of Norway, but Matís' role in the project is to measure the odorants in the ingredients and their sensory assessment, which is used to describe the appearance, smell, taste and texture of food products. 

The status of the project was reviewed at the meeting, but Matís presented the results of measurements with an electronic nose and an electronic tongue that were carried out in Israel, and which provide indications of the taste and smell of the ingredients without actually tasting them. The results of those measurements, together with sensory evaluation, indicate that production methods can have a great influence on the smell and taste of the kelp.

More information about the SusKelpFood project can be found on its project page here:
Sustainable ingredients from cultivated kelp to the food industry

On Thursday, September 21, the Matís staff took a step forward and went on an autumn trip east of the mountain. The day was sunny and beautiful and Ölfus looked his best.

The group's first stop was Rádhús Ölfuss in Þorlákshöfn. There, Kolbrún Hrafnkelsdóttir and Rúnar Þórarinsson welcomed us with coffee and donuts and introduced the group to the Ölfus Cluster, Grænan iðngarð, the activities of First Water and Jarðlífs and other exciting things going on in this rapidly growing municipality. It's safe to say that there was enough!

After the presentation, there was a field trip to the area of First Water, which is a closed land-based plant that is currently undergoing rapid development. It was impressive to walk around the area, which is huge and full of possibilities. Rúnar guided the group and showed how the structure has been in recent months and what the plans are for the coming seasons.

After a walk around the area, we stopped at the restaurant Hafinu Bláa, located at the Ölfusár estuary between Eyrarbakki and Þorlákshavn. Delicious lobster soup and freshly baked bread were served there and the group could enjoy the view and the mild weather in this pleasant place.

From there the path went up to Hellisheidi, in the house of Orku Náttúrunn and VAXA. Kristinn Hafliðason, or Kiddi in VAXA as he is fondly called, told about the structure and operations of the company, which reuses water and energy from the Hellisheiðar power plant in order to cultivate microalgae and produce sustainable food from them. The group got to walk around the production hall, which is a very pleasant experience because the whole area is bathed in purple light in which the microalgae thrive.

The group ended the day by having a cup of coffee at Hellisheði and heading back to Reykjavík.

Matís' staff would like to express their thanks for the wonderful reception in Ölfus.