On Friday 12 June 2009, a working and strategic meeting was held in the cooling projects Kælibót and Chill-on (in connection with the project "Simulation of cooling processes").
Extensive experiments have been carried out in the field of cooling catfish from the market. Participants in the project are connected to different links in the chain: raw material handling, processing, transport and marketing. The first results from extensive research on cooling fish were presented. The experiments were performed in the winter of 2008-2009 under real conditions. A comparison has been made of:
- cooling capacity of different ice media and machines for their production
- cooling methods during processing (liquid and erosive cooling)
- different packaging for product packaging
- different transport routes (ships and flights) and the effect of improved temperature control on the transport of chilled products.
In parallel with the presentations, there was an important discussion and exchange of views on the importance of different experimental factors and results. The discussions were used to formulate a strategy for the next experiments that will be carried out this autumn. Then the best methods for each link in the chain will be selected together and the whole chain will be run in one experiment under real conditions. Transport processes have been mapped in terms of time and temperature, and refrigeration simulators will be used to set up those processes for storing products. In this way, the necessary measurements can be performed without the transfer from the sampling site to the laboratory interfering with the results. At the same time, the aim is to export the same products to the market in order to obtain a market participant's assessment of the products.
The participants in the projects Kælibótar and Chill-on are: Brim hf., Eimskip hf., Háskóli Íslands, Icelandair Cargo, Matís ohf., Optimar á Íslandi ehf., Samherji hf., Samskip hf. Skaginn hf. and Opale Seafood.
The projects are funded by AVS, EU, Tækniþróunarsjóður Rannís and Rannsóknarsjóður Háskóli Íslands.