Contact
Ólafur Reykdal
Project Manager
olafur.reykdal@matis.is
The project was led by the Icelandic University of Agriculture. The project looked for suitable oat cultivars for cultivation in Iceland.
Employees of the University of Agriculture experimented with the cultivation of numerous oat crops. Matís' role was: (1) Quality inspection of samples of oats with regard to appearance, damage and foreign objects according to international standards. (2) Measurements of total bacterial, mold and yeast counts in oat samples. (3) Measurements of mycotoxins, which were carried out abroad. (4) Sensory evaluation of samples of rolled oats that were used to prepare porridge. A sensory evaluation team was trained specifically for this task. Taste, texture, smell and other sensory factors were evaluated for the oat samples and oat flakes on the market for comparison. The project started in 2021 and ended in 2022. The sponsor was the Food Foundation.
Very important results were obtained for mycotoxins in oat samples. Measurements were made of 11 mycotoxins (aflatoxins B1, B2, G1 and G2, ochratoxin A, deoxynivalenol (vomyotoxin), zearalenone (ZON), T-2 toxin and HT-2 toxin, fumonisin B1 (FB1) and fumonisin B2) in 6 oat samples. Deoxynivalenol (DON) was measured in very low concentrations in three samples but was not detectable in other samples. The other mycotoxins were not measurable in the samples. The highest measured value for DON was only 8% of the maximum value for oats for human consumption and was then based on Regulation 1881/2006. See Matís' news here ( Icelandic oats are almost completely free of toxins - Matís (matis.is) ) and Bændabladð 26.8.2021, p. 10.