Hylobates Consulting srl, a SME (Drs Luca Bucchini and Matteo Prandi) is a consulting, research and training company whose expertise encompasses food safety, cosmetic product safety, bio-safety and environmental safety. Areas of excellence include human health risk assessment, advanced statistical analysis, human safety communication and development of risk-related software. Founded in 2003 by a risk assessor, by a cosmetic scientist and by a lawyer, it has focused on chemical and microbiological risk assessment, risk communication and risk policy. At mid-2005, Hylobates employs three scientists full-time, plus several other collaborators for specific projects, which range from agronomy to allergen labelling.

Since 2003, they have acquired over 60 key customers from the public and private sector, which range from industries to national research institutions. We are currently conducting a risk assessment of Listeria monocytogenes in ready-to-eat foods in Italy, a broad review of food risk management strategies in Europe, at the public level and in the catering sector (within the EC-funded HECTOR project); they are also developing modelling tools for micronutrient intakes, including subpopulations, and risk communication strategies for food allergens. Their main contribution is to WP 8.