Face to face with: ALGENFOR | SANA Partner

February 2026

BIOGEST - SITEIA is a Centre within the Emilia-Romagna Region High Technology Network, focused on industrial research and technology transfer in the agri-food sector. It collaborates with companies, as well as public and private research institutions, adopting a “from farm to fork” value-chain approach. The research area of food technologies concentrates on product and process innovation; food quality and safety; and food packaging and shelf life.

What inspired your participation in SANA Food 2026, and what goals or expectations are guiding you in this new edition?

The Centre is participating in SANA Food 2026 to present the results of the project “ALGENFOR – The Use of Algae for a New Generation of Bakery Products” (https://www.algenfor.eu/), funded under the Emilia-Romagna PR-FESR 2021-2027 programme.
The project’s objectives are strongly focused on environmental sustainability and the nutritional enhancement of bakery products, while also leveraging the event as an opportunity to share outcomes and foster cooperative networks with industrial stakeholders in the region.

Today’s consumers are increasingly conscious about health and well-being. How has this awareness influenced your production choices or inspired new product concepts?

The growing focus on health represents one of the main drivers of innovation: within a value-chain framework, it is the consumer who ultimately guides the choices of formulators engaged in research. In this context, through the Centre and the ALGENFOR project, we develop concrete strategies to create foods that meet well-being expectations, combining nutritional, and sensory quality with sustainability.

Tradition and innovation often go hand in hand in a company’s growth journey. How do you manage to honor your roots while giving them a contemporary interpretation?

From the integration of tradition and innovation emerges the flagship product of the ALGENFOR project, which aims to reinterpret an iconic food such as the breadstick by enriching it with an innovative ingredient consistent with its category, yet capable of enhancing its functional and nutritional profile.

Transparency, sustainability, and traceability have become essential values in today’s market. How do you bring these principles to life in your distribution practices?

The decision to work with algae – nutritionally promising and sustainable ingredients – in the formulation of bakery products represents the first major step in our vision: bringing consumers closer to a One Health approach through transparent and informed communication about the qualities of the raw materials used.