Hylobates (in short, Hylo) was founded in 2003 by Luca and Lucilla. After graduating in science, they lived, studied and worked in the United States in the field of food risk assessment, public health and cosmetic sciences. Back in Rome, they decided to start a company to deliver excellence in scientific and regulatory consulting for food and cosmetic products.
Our company’s name was inspired by a gibbon, a Hylobates lar, which is an amazing tree-jumping creature, which, with its precise and instictive understanding of strengths, difficulties, and rules of physics and physiology, is able to fly flawlessly between the highest trees in the canopy of Indonesian forests.
In 2003, we opened our first office in Northern Rome. Also, in 2003, we submitted (by hand!) our first notification of a food supplement to the Italian Ministry of Health, and supported the legality of a new ingredient.
Our first research project was funded by the European Commission, within an international consortium, in 2005. This was also the year we acquired the first e-commerce sports nutrition retail website as a customer. We also helped defend a firm against a misleading advertising allegation made by Italy’s antitrust authority (AGCM).
Again, in 2005, we faced and solved one of the first issues on borderline classification between food and cosmetic products.
In 2007, we successfully submitted our first INCI name application through the Personal Care Products Council of a botanical ingredient from South America.
In 2009, we helped write and manage the PlantLIBRA project, which dealt with plant food supplements and provided a platform for some of the key current scientific and regulatory developments for botanicals, including the BelFRIT list. Francesca also became a key member of the management team.
In 2010, as the staff grew and Armando and Jacopo joined the team, we moved to our current offices.
In 2013, we were awarded an EFSA contract for pre-assessment of food enzymes from an exposure and technical specifications point of view.
In 2015, for the first time, we had a multinational company as a client. Within a year, we also started serving supermarket chains.
In 2020, the relevance for Hylobates of European and international projects overtook the Italian market.
Following the historical participation in ESSNA, in 2021 Hylobates became a member of Synadiet. Synadiet is a french organization which aims to preserve and improve consumers’ health through a responsible and transparent use of food supplements and other natural products.
2022 kicked in with the involvement in the ICC Agri-Food Initiative, a well known cooperation between institutions and enterprises with multiple objectives:
In conclusion to the twenty years of Hylobates (2003-2023) two huge news came up:
2024 beginning is sparkling. Once again, our managing director showed to be the best! He was elected and proclaimed NUTRACHAMPION, the European champion who promotes the compliance in the sport nutrition field for over 20 years.