Plant-based 2.0: Unigrà’s solutions at the FI Webinar Series
Research, innovation and development: Unigrà's commitment to the new frontiers of plant-based
On June 9th 2026, as part of the FI Webinar Series, Unigrà took part in the event “Plant-based 2.0: Scaling taste, impact & accessibility”. The presentation, entitled “Plant-based innovation: real solutions for the current and future global market”, was an opportunity to outline the company’s journey in the plant-based world: from its deep roots in vegetable oil processing, to the first company brand with a fully plant-based positioning, through to current product innovations and research into new ingredients to address market challenges.Unigrà was represented by Carlo Oldani, Group Marketing Director, Claudio Chinnici, Group Marketing Manager Consumer, and Dario Battacchi, Innovation Project Manager.
Plant-based in Unigrà’s DNA
Carlo Oldani, Group Marketing Director, opened the presentation by underscoring that for Unigrà, plant-based is not a recent trend but a shared approach from the very beginning: over the years, the company has invested in research, explored new raw materials and adopted advanced technologies.From the development of margarines, fully plant-based products, it was precisely this expertise that enabled a natural evolution towards dairy alternatives: a concrete example is the development of dairy-free milk chocolate, which uses rice flour in place of milk solids. “Our goal”, explains Carlo Oldani, “was not simply to offer a substitute, but to create a plant-based solution that stands out for its excellent taste and outstanding performance”. From this vision, the next step was entering the retail market of plant-based drinks and creams: this is how the OraSì project was born.
OraSì brand strategy
Claudio Chinnici, Group Marketing Manager Consumer, in his reading of the market highlighted a distinction between different phases of development: initially, “veg-exclusivist” consumers replaced dairy with soy for nutritional reasons; today, so-called “wellness seekers” look to plant-based for a balanced, light diet with functional benefits. The largest and most interesting segment, however, is the “flexitarians”: consumers who choose primarily on the basis of taste and organoleptic satisfaction.In light of this market evolution, OraSì’s new vision brings together two approaches: bringing taste and quality to categories perceived as healthy but restrictive, and being the plant-based option in categories perceived as flavourful and organoleptically satisfying. A concrete example is the recent launch of a range of 100% plant-based sweet spreads. “Replacing milk with plant-based ingredients and enhancing the taste perception of pistachio, cocoa and almond by placing them as the first ingredients on the label: this is how we deliver an incredible taste experience, even in a plant-based format”, explained Claudio Chinnici.
R&D innovation projects
Dario Battacchi, Innovation Project Manager at Unigrà, presented several R&D projects aimed at redefining the concept of plant-based: no longer a simple alternative, but a platform for intercepting and responding to new consumer tastes.One of the projects is structured around three objectives: obtaining functional and flavourful plant-based ingredients and semi-finished products, developing vertically integrated supply chains from the field, and exploring new processing technologies through collaboration with suppliers, universities and research centres.The focus was placed on pulses. “Pulses check all the boxes for our project”, explained Dario Battacchi. “The growing interest surrounding them stems from their high protein and fibre content. Moreover, compared to soy, certain pulses have a lower fat content, a characteristic that opens up new possibilities both in terms of production processes and product development”.Two further projects presented by Dario Battacchi focus on the valorisation of processing co-products. The first is EXTREAMS, led by Wageningen Food and Biobased Research, which focuses on transforming co-products into sugar substitutes through a reverse engineering approach.The second project is a valorisation study of okara, the insoluble residue from the production of our cereal and soy-based drinks. Research has shown a wide range of potential applications, from bakery to the alternative meat segment. “In short, fieldwork, technology and a circular approach converge”, states Dario Battacchi, “to deliver functional, sustainable and innovative solutions in response to customer needs”.From this research, several products have been developed, including the nut-free spreads Free-stachio and Chickpeable, which replicate the taste of pistachio and hazelnut without containing nuts, and Plant-B, which matches the performance of butter while being 100% vegan and allergen-free.
Towards the future
The webinar closed with a look ahead.“Our goal”, concluded Carlo Oldani, Group Marketing Director, “is to enhance the quality of novel ingredients while moving past simple solutions. We are innovating this sector through the smart reuse of resources, using circularity to design the future of food”.
