Category: field trials

ASCS, in co-operation with the University of Bonn, lead the recent Chill-on field trials in Bonn where the objective was to follow and monitor fresh poultry products around Germany, starting in a slaugtherhouse and ending with a final customer.

Three members of the team traveled to Bonn where the first day was reserved for orientation with other field trial participants from the Chill-on project and presentations. During the following days, the Chill-On team traveled to the slaughterhouse, where the Chill-On equipment was installed in the chicken products, and then followed the distribution process of the products in a separate car where everything could be remotely monitored. The team then followed the products to the end-customers in several cities around Germany, and finally they reached their end destination in Bonn.

After the products arrived at the butcher shop in Bonn, who was the final customer of the distribution process, they were stored in a cooler until they reached the end of their shelf life. Every day, the products were checked both for quality and microbiological condition and the function of the TTI-labels, which indicate the remaining shelf life and the total time-temperature load, was also observed.

These trials proved to be very successful and the temperature during the course of the trials proved to have been below the estimated supply chain temperature that had been indicated by previous mapping experiments.

ASCS lead the Chill-On field trials of salmon. A team from ASCS traveled to Norway, where traceability and temperature monitoring equipment was installed in both the product boxes and in the cargo trucks that were used.

After the installation of the monitoring equipment, the team followed the products to Boulogne sur/Mer, France (via Oslo), where the products were smoked by a French processing company and the downwards supply chain toward the final customer was then monitored for the smoked salmon.

The team followed the finished products to their end customers, who were located in Paris.

The field trials were considered to have been a great success, since on-line monitoring of the temperature and location of the products, from the slaughtering in Norway to the end customer in France, was achievable in real-time.

In March ASCS lead the field trials in the Chill-on project.  The trials were with fish from Dalvik and taking it to Boulogne sur Mer in France.

The television station Euronews followed with during the field trials and created documentary about the trials.  The documentary can be seen here

ASCS er þátttakandi í Evrópuverkefninu Chill-on, en verkefnið er stórt samstarfsverkefni á vettvangi Evrópusamabandsins. Hlutur ASCS innan verkefnisins er meðal annars að sjá um vettvangsprófanir. Fyrstu slíku prófanir munu fara fram á Íslandi frá 20. Nóvember til 1. Desember.

Til Íslands munu koma vísindamenn frá 7 löndum og starfa undir stjórn ASCS við framkvæmd vettvangsprófananna.
Að þessu sinni verða vettvangsprófanirnar á hálfu raunverulegar eins og gengur og gerist í raunlegri framleiðslu en að hluta verður reynt að líka eftir raunaðstæðum. Gert er ráð fyrir að fiskur verður veiddur út af Reykjanesi, hann verði verkaður í Kópavogi og svo fluttur út af Eimskip. Í þessum hluta prófananna verður hefðbundnum vinnsluaðferðum beitt. Í fyrri prófunum hefur fiskurinn verið sendur til Frakklands, en að þessu sinni verður þetta eins raunverulegt og hægt er. Gámur sem inniheldur vöruna og búnaðinn verður settur í land í Vestmanneyjum, þar verður gámurinn geymdur jafnlengi og það hefði tekið að sigla til Immingham. Síðan verður farið með fiskinn í Herjólf og til baka til Reykjavíkur. Þar mun fiskurinn vera sendur til Matís þar sem gæði fisksins verða mælda og borin saman við þau líkön sem gerð hafa verið í verkefninu um gæðamat á fisk.

Á Íslandi eru þátttakendur bæði Matís og fiskútflytjendurnir Opale Seafood. Eimskip hefur auk þess veitt dygga aðstoð án þess að vera hluti af verkefninu.

First step of the field trials of Chill-on are so called wet trials. The wet trials are mini version of field trials with all equipment and gear installed like in real field trials, the only difference is that the transport to France was simulated in Iceland with the container not beeing shipped all the way to France but set ashore on a little island south of Iceland (Westman Isles) which is the last stop of the cargo vessel before it sails to Immingham. From Imminghad the product would be transported via road and ferry to the final destination of Boulogne sur Mer.

The planing of the wet trials has been in the hands of ASCS. Participants from 7 different countries are expected to come to Iceland for the duration and to over see that there equipment and systems will be used the right way.