Wednesday 30 June at At 15.00, a doctoral defense from the Faculty of Food and Nutrition at the University of Iceland will take place. Mai Thi Tuyet Nga, a food scientist, is defending her doctoral dissertation. Due to changes in the celebration hall, the defense will take place in hall 105 at Háskólatorg.
Overview
"Enhancing quality management of fresh fish with improved product management and traceability from fishing and to consumers." (Enhancing quality management of fresh fish supply chains through improved logistics and ensured traceability) is the title of the doctoral dissertation.
Dr. Ingibjörg Gunnarsdóttir, professor and vice-dean of the Faculty of Food and Nutrition, will chair the ceremony, which will take place in hall 105 at Háskólatorg and will begin at 15:00.
Opponents are Dr. Morten Sivertsvik, "Research Leader" at Nofima in Stavanger and Dr. Hjörleifur Einarsson, professor at the University of Akureyri.
The supervisors and the doctoral committee were the following Sigurjón Arason, associate professor at the University of Iceland and chief engineer at Matís ohf, Dr. Gunnar Stefánsson Associate Professor at the Faculty of Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Iceland, Dr. Sigurður G. Bogason specialist at the University of Iceland and Dr. Sveinn Margeirsson, division manager at Matís ohf.
The United Nations University School of Fisheries provided Mai Thi Tuyet Nga with a scholarship and Matís ohf. provided her research facilities. The study belonged to the projects CHILL-ON (project no. FP6-016333-2) funded by the 6th Framework Program of the European Union and Hermun kæliferla which is funded by the AVS Fisheries Research Fund, the Technology Development Fund and the University of Iceland Research Fund.
Abstract from the study: "Strengthened quality management of fresh fish with better planning and traceability from fishing and to consumers."
The aim of the project was to: Strengthen quality management of fresh fish with better planning and improved traceability from fishing and to consumers. Part of the research was to obtain an overview of the knowledge of the directors of companies related to the fishing industry on traceability and their cost awareness in the choice of transport routes and packaging when making decisions on the choice of transport processes for marine products. Analysis of transport processes was a necessary part of the project in order to obtain a comprehensive overview of the status of the industry and the transport processes. The results of the analysis revealed which links in the supply chain could be improved in terms of shelf life, procedures, equipment, environmental impact, etc. The project investigated how temperatures evolve through the transport chain for both aviation and sea; fillet processing, pre-cooling, the effect of different packaging, - the function of storage and containers and also during the transfer of goods in the chain. The results of these components of the project were used to assess the heat load experienced by the products in the processes and used to predict shelf life. The results of the project will be used to make decisions about which processes should be improved in the supply chain so that it is most useful in optimizing the overall process.
The advantages and disadvantages of air and sea transport for fresh fish were analyzed. The results of the temperature mapping showed a much more stable temperature in container transport by ship than by air transport. In particular, there is a risk of heat stress in air transport chains when a product is moved between different links in the refrigeration chain. Other factors in the supply chain that can affect the quality and shelf life of fresh fish are pre-cooling before packing, the location of boxes on pallets in the case of poorly temperature-controlled cooling chains and the length of the chains.
TTI (Time Temperature Indicators) was also analyzed in the project where equipment was tested for fresh fish products and its use to assess product quality limits. TTI tests were performed in storage trials to verify that the rate of product quality change was consistent with the performance of the TTI equipment.
The doctoral dissertation is based on six scientific articles, of which one article is already published in an international scientific journal and another is approved.
Mai Thi Tuyet Nga was born on December 23, 1971 in Vietnam. She completed her B.Sc. degree from the Department of Aquatic Products Processing Technology at Kaliningrad State Technical University (KGTU), Kaliningrad, Russian Federation in 1995 and M.Sc. degree from the Faculty of Aquatic Products Processing, Nha Trang University (NTU), Nha Trang, Vietnam in 2000. Mai Thi Tuyet Nga has been a teacher of food science since 1996 at Nha Trang University (NTU). Mai Thi Tuyet Nga is married to Tran Quang Hung and they have two daughters Tran Mai Linh and Tran Mai Khanh Huyen.
Mai Thi Tuyet Nga, phone: 00-354-8987821; 00-84-914074318 Email: maiceland@yahoo.com
Sigurjón Arason, main supervisor, mailto:go@hi.is sigurjar@hi.is (phone: 8585117)