Partnership
Unione Italiana Food
unieat
In January 2024, Unione Italiana Food launched a major initiative with significant political and institutional relevance: the establishment of a new association, named “UniEat”, in partnership with Confagricoltura. UniEat brings together the industrial and primary production sectors to promote the Mediterranean model and its value chains, addressing the daily challenges facing the Italian agri-food sector, both domestically and in markets worldwide. The richness, diversity and nature of the products represented by Unione Italiana Food, together with their complementary role within the Mediterranean diet as a whole, led us to establish, jointly with Confagricoltura — with whom we have developed and consolidated a natural partnership in recent years — an association with clearly defined aims and objectives.
These essentially focus on promoting and enhancing the products and sectors represented by Unione Italiana Food and Confagricoltura, which in many cases supplies the raw materials for our industry, within an integrated value-chain approach and in line with the scope outlined above. The objective is to contribute, through the implementation of the necessary initiatives, activities and projects, to:
- Strengthening the efficiency of value chains by replicating and expanding successful projects;
- Fostering competitiveness through sustainable food production, more efficient logistics networks and storage systems;
- Promoting the Mediterranean model through information, awareness-raising and food education initiatives;
- Supporting and working with local areas and communities to create shared value;
- Ensuring increasingly healthier products through research and innovation.
Università di Scienze Gastronomiche di Pollenzo
The University of Gastronomic Sciences of Pollenzo has welcomed Unionfood as a “Strategic Partner” for the development of joint initiatives aimed at promoting a culture of quality around “Italian food”, both in Italy and, even more importantly, internationally. One of the first projects, focused on a specific product category, is designed to promote pasta in international markets through the creation, training and coordination of a network of “Pasta Ambassadors”. Another project, with a cross-cutting focus, consists of training courses for the next generation of business leaders, designed to facilitate their entry into the world of Made in Italy food and provide them with the tools and skills required to manage a company effectively. A further initiative concerns the development of Guidelines for Conducting Comparative Tests. This project stems from concerns we raised regarding issues and critical aspects identified in certain articles published in food industry magazines dealing with comparative sensory testing. The aim is to develop a document providing specific guidelines for conducting comparative sensory tests, in order to promote good practices and greater transparency in the tests published in the sector.
EIIS (European Institute of Innovation for Sustainability)
Unionfood has established a more structured relationship with EIIS (European Institute of Innovation for Sustainability) through the creation of the CEUS, the “Unionfood Centre of Excellence for Sustainability”. The Centre is a key platform for institutional dialogue and for promoting innovation, collaboration and excellence in the Italian agri-food sector, with a specific focus on sustainable practices capable of guiding the future development of our industry. A kick-off meeting was organised, which led to the proposal to develop a “Sustainability Charter”, intended to support Unionfood’s institutional positioning on sustainable agriculture issues promoted at European level. The Unionfood Centre of Excellence for Sustainability (CEUS) brings together the companies that took part in the Food Talent Camp held in Tabiano in May 2024 (Barilla G. e R. Fratelli S.p.A.; Colussi S.p.A.; Menz & Gasser; Unilever Italia S.p.A.; Lactalis Italia S.p.A.; Sammontana S.p.A.; Perfetti Van Melle S.p.A.) and those that participated in the Summit organised in collaboration with EIIS (Ferrero International S.A.; Mondelēz International Inc.; Mutti S.p.A.; C.S.I. Compagnia Surgelati Italiana S.p.A. – Findus; illycaffè S.p.A.).
Consiglio dell’Ordine nazionale dei Tecnologi Alimentari
Unionfood has signed a Cooperation Protocol with the National Council of Food Technologists aimed at:
- jointly identifying priority issues for the food industry that require clarification and greater understanding among the media and institutions;
- defining common positions that the Council may disseminate through its training and communication activities;
- identifying professional skills and training needs that the Council will incorporate into the development of training modules for its members, in collaboration with universities.
TRUSTY
Growing global attention to the fight against climate change has led the European Commission to devote a significant part of its programme to implementing policies aimed at addressing this challenge. Against this backdrop, Unionfood identified Trusty — which offers a robust end-to-end traceability platform designed to ensure compliance with new European regulations, enhance the value of products and address the needs of complex supply chains, particularly in the food and agricultural sectors — as an ideal partner for organising a series of training activities formalised through a Memorandum of Understanding. The Memorandum of Understanding aims to: - contribute to the process of cultural and skills development towards the principles of Due Diligence; - share experiences and best practices relating to the EUDR and other national and international regulations concerning supply-chain transparency and traceability; - share experiences relating to the enhancement and promotion of products, including, for example, the use of Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) for Made in Italy products, as provided for under Law No. 206 of 27 December 2023. .
www.trusty.id
Associazione Italiana Ospedalità Privata
A framework agreement between AIOP (Italian Association of Private Hospitals) and Unione Italiana Food was established as part of Confindustria’s workplace vaccination campaign against SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19. The agreement implements the provisions of the National Protocol for the implementation of company vaccination plans aimed at establishing temporary vaccination centres in workplaces. The Protocol was signed on 6 April by the Ministry of Labour and Social Policies, the Ministry of Health, the Extraordinary Commissioner for the implementation and coordination of measures to contain and combat the epidemiological emergency and for the implementation of the national vaccination campaign, INAIL, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Social Partners.
Warrant Hub
Unione Italiana Food has entered into a cooperation agreement with Warrant Hub to provide, upon request from member companies, specialist support and consultancy in the development of projects and applications for access to all forms of tax and financial incentives. The service includes an assessment of the company’s investments, research, development and innovation projects, as well as training programmes, in order to identify the relevant incentives and assess their potential scope and benefits. The analysis also includes verification of the eligibility requirements for accessing the relevant incentives, with particular reference to “Transition 4.0” and “Ecological Transition and Digital Innovation 4.0”. 
www.warranthub.it
TUTTOFOOD
The Confectionery and Pasta sectors have an agreement with Fiera Milano, in relation to TUTTOFOOD event, with an expected duration until 2021, by virtue of which Unione Italiana Food has made available the Dolce Italia and Pasta Italia brands to Fiera Milano (brands of the federation used to spread in Italy and abroad the knowledge of Italian confectionery and pasta products) ensuring its institutional support. The partnership arose from the high international vocation of the Milan Trade Fair, which will certainly encourage the promotional and commercial aspects, supporting our quality export in foreign markets of greater strategic interest for the Confectionery and Pasta sectors. The 2019 edition of TUTTOFOOD sees the consolidation of the collaboration between TUTTOFOOD and Unione Italiana Food through the important novelty of the International Excellence Project, aimed at further increasing the level of international representativeness, through a rigorous selection of only agri-food excellence from Europe and from all over the world.
IPACK-IMA 2018 PROCESSING & PACKAGING
UNIONFOOD has recently signed a cooperation agreement with IPACK-IMA, a long-standing trade fair partner. IPACK-IMA MILANO is the leading international trade fair for processing and packaging materials and technologies serving both the food and non-food industries. It is an integrated and interconnected exhibition platform focused on four key reference markets: grain-based food, beverages, pharmaceuticals, and the Food, Fresh & Convenience sector.
CIBUS
Some sectors of Unione Italiana Food have a partnership agreement with the CIBUS fair for Coffee, Nutrition and Health, Food Preparations (excluding Products for Artisanal Gelato), Food Products, Frozen Products and Plant-based Products (excluding Fresh-cut fruit and vegetables). After the great success of Cibus 2018, Cibus Connect took place at the Parma exhibition centre on 10-11 April 2019, offering the opportunity to meet top national and international buyers, enhancing products with events, personalized show cooking, workshops and plenary appointments aimed at enhancing issues related to the internationalization of Italian food.
www.cibus.it