Recently, two articles by Matís staff appeared in prestigious foreign scientific journals. On the one hand, there is an article on the subcooling of char and on the other hand, there is an article on the shelf life and stability of fish powder.
An article published in the 3rd issue of the International Journal of Food Engineering 2007 discusses the shelf life of char stored in different conditions and emphasizes overcooling. The article is entitled Effects of Dry Ice and Superchilling on Quality and Shelf Life of Arctic Charr (Salvelinus alpinus) Fillets. The main author of the article is Huynh Nguyen Duy Bao from Vietnam, and the co-authors are Sigurjón Arason and Kristín Anna Þórarinsdóttir from Matís.
Bao was a student at the University of Iceland's Fisheries School in the winter of 2004-5 and worked on a project on this subject under the guidance of Sigurjón and Kristín Anna. According to Sigurjón, research on the effects of subcooling in Iceland has mainly focused on marine fish such as cod, but char was chosen in the aforementioned Bao project, as this fish is more similar to the fish species caught in Vietnam. Read the article
Another recently published article in the Journal of Aquatic Food Product Technology discusses studies on the shelf life and stability of a protein-rich fish powder made from saithe and intended for human consumption. The article is entitled “Stability of Fish Powder Made from Saithe (Pollachius virens) as Measured by Lipid Oxidation and Functional Properties, ”and its main author is Margrét Bragadóttir, who worked for IFL for a long time, but other authors are Eyjólfur Reynisson, Sigurjón Arason and Kristín Anna Þórarinsdóttir, who all work for Matís. Read the article
As many people know, Icelanders produce a lot of fishmeal, especially from pelagic fish species such as capelin, blue whiting and herring, but there is also a considerable amount of extra raw material that comes from fish processing, such as cuts and ridges. Fishmeal has so far been mainly used in animal feed, but there has long been interest in investigating whether and how a larger proportion of this raw material could be used for human consumption, as a raw material called extra raw material is rich in protein and fat.
In this connection, it may be mentioned that Matís' subsidiary, Iceprótein ehf, which operates in Sauðárkrókur, is now researching how extra raw materials from cod can be used to produce high-quality proteins.