The market for ready-made fresh food has grown rapidly in recent years, especially in Europe, and many have seen in this development the possibility of increasing the value of seafood. However, it may be reversed as it is difficult to use seafood in prepared foods. The main thing that has prevented seafood from being used in prepared dishes is that fish is a very sensitive raw material due to the high proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids that can oxidize and cause bad taste.
In order to make it easier for fish processing companies to meet the demands of the market, it is clear that more knowledge needs to be gained about the stability of prepared fish dishes and the effect of boiling on product quality. Consumers are increasingly demanding the availability of prepared foods, but also want the product to retain important properties, such as nutritional content and taste quality. At the same time, increased requirements are made for freshness and increased shelf life.
Last year began project at IFL which aims to investigate Effects of Oxidation on Membrane Phospholipids, Proteins and Fish Muscle Inhibitors / Inhibitors which affect the taste and nutritional value of fish. The effects of boiling and heating should also be considered as a stimulating factor in the formation of taste defects in boiled cod. The results of the project will increase the understanding of oxidation in boiled fish that causes taste defects and at the same time give ideas on ways to prevent the formation of these taste defects in products.
When allocating from Rannís Research Fund, today it was revealed that the aforementioned project had received a follow-up grant of over ISK 4 million, so it is clear that the investigation of oxidation in fish at full power at IFL will continue in the coming months.
Today, the working group of the project was researching capelin at IFL with regard to the aforementioned characteristics and the attached photo was taken on that occasion. The project manager of the project is dr. Guðrún Ólafsdóttir, but others who work on it at IFL are Margrét Bragadóttir and Rósa Jónsdóttir. As previously stated, Rannís is funding the project, which is expected to be completed in 2008.