IHS Inc. announced the expanded relationship with IFIS that allows IHS to host and sell the FSTA database – a comprehensive resource of food science,
technology and nutrition information. The FSTA database is now accessible via the common IHS platform that centralizes access to engineering standards and technical knowledge.

Focusing on food sciences, food technology and nutrition, the team of expert scientists at IFIS (International Food Information Service) evaluates, selects and summarizes research published in academic journals, trade publications, books, patents, standards, conference proceedings and reports in up to 29 languages. This comprehensive work creates high quality, authoritative records of direct relevance and scientific integrity. The FSTA database currently includes more than 1.1 million records from 4,600 journals, dating from 1969 to the present day, adding more than 1,350 new records per week.

“IHS offers a best-in-class solution that significantly improves research and drives the discoverability of innovative new solutions, connecting potentially millions of users to the trusted and relevant research in the FSTA database,” says René Schölzel, head of Sales and Marketing, IFIS.

Food scientists, researchers and engineers in industry can accelerate research and improve project outcomes by accessing the FSTA database within new IHS Knowledge Collections for food microbiology and biotechnology, food processing, food products, nutrition, and general food science as well as within the IHS Goldfire solution. In doing so, they can quickly discover relevant answers from virtually every aspect of food science, technology and nutrition. This includes all major food and beverage commodities, plus relevant pure and applied sciences, food processing, food safety (toxicology and hygiene), biotechnology, food economics, and pet foods.

For example, an engineer researching advancements in surface modification to reduce or prevent bacterial contamination can now execute a single search into FSTA to locate the most relevant, up-to-date information and research, tailored to their specific enquiry. Through that same single search, researchers can drill into advanced definitions, expanded concepts, applications, advantages/disadvantages among more than 70 research lenses and retrieve rich, technical answers from within the FSTA and more than 110 million additional standards, technical books, patents and applied engineering documents.

“This partnership is critical for food sciences and biomedical industries because no other solution can help technical researchers and engineers in the food sciences, agriculture and biomedical industries reduce research by 25 percent,” says Jeff Jarvis, senior director, IHS. “Being able to access the rich scientific and technical knowledge in FSTA alongside applicable standards, regulations and additional applied engineering knowledge in a single platform is a solution only IHS can offer.”