The Icelandic Food Research (Matís ohf)

Web site: http://www.matis.is

Matis is a dynamic R&D company, which was esablished in 2006 following the merger of three public food research institutes:

• The Icelandic Fisheries Laboratories (IFL), which was an independent food research institute, operating under the auspices of the Ministry of Fisheries
• Matra which was a joint venture of IceTec and the Agricultural Research Institute (ministries of Industry & Agriculture)
• The research division of the Environment and Food Agency, which operated under the direction of the Ministry for the Environment.

A key aspect of operations at Matis is to engage in applied research with the goal of increasing the value of food processing and production in Iceland as well as to ensure the safety and quality of Icelandic food products.

Matis’ specialised fields include processing technology, biotechnology, chemical and physical properties of food, quality and safety of food raw materials and food products, feed technology for aquaculture and environmental research.

Matis is responsible for monitoring of contaminants of chemical and bacterial origin in food available on the domestic market, as well as in exported food and feed products, e.g. Icelandic seafood.

Matis provides extensive analytical services for competent control authorities, food industries and pharmaceutical companies. The company has accreditation according to the ISO 17025 standard with more than 30 microbiological and chemical methods accredited.

Activities of Matis are focused on three main areas:

Processing and product development

• Consumers and sensory evaluation
• Aquaculture
• Food processing
• Traceability and marketing

Genotyping and Biotechnology

• Genotyping
• Biotechnology
• Biomolecular science

Food Safety

• Microbiological research
• Chemical research
• Consultancy, dissemination, risk assessment, databanks