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.
Sæmundur Elíasson verkefnastjóri hjá Matís var einn af leiðbeinendum nemendanna í verkefninu og kynnti hluta af niðurstöðum þess á 51. ráðstefnu WEFTA sem fram fór í Kaupmannahöfn 16.-20. október síðastliðinn. West European Fish Technologists Association eða WEFTA er vettvangur þar sem margt fremsta vísindafólk Evrópu á sviði rannsókna á sjávarfangi og nýtingu þess kemur saman og ber saman bækur sínar. Áhersla ráðstefnunnar í ár var ,,sjálfbær nýting sjávarfangs“.
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.