HK1071275B - Chewing gums and process for the manufacture thereof - Google Patents

Description

Chewing gum and method for producing the same

The present invention relates to a pellet or "mini-candy" having a core constituted by a gum base which is flavored and sweetened with a high-intensity sweetener and formulated without the sugars or polyols normally used in the production of traditional chewing gums.

Gum base is one of the major, most complex ingredients in chewing gum, which can be prepared by mixing the following classes of ingredients: vegetable or synthetic gums, resins, waxes, emulsifiers, processing aids, fillers and antioxidants.

The gum provides a cohesive structure of the gum base which may vary depending on the particular gum or blend of gums used, which may be synthetic or vegetable gums. Typically used synthetic gums are polyisobutylene, isobutylene-isoprene copolymers, and others. Vegetable gums commonly used to prepare gum bases are chicle, jelutong, and the like.

The gum base hardness can be adjusted with different resins to give it a sticky effect. The principal resins used, by way of example and without being restricted thereto, may be mentioned terpene resins, rosin esters and polyvinyl acetates.

Waxes, emulsifiers and processing aids are commonly used to modify the texture and plasticity of the gum base. This broad category of ingredients includes (by way of example and not limitation): hydrogenated vegetable oils (such as palm, cottonseed, and soybean oils), microcrystalline waxes, refined and synthetic paraffin waxes, beeswax, candelilla and carnauba waxes, acetates, glycerol monostearate and their acetates, glycerol and others.

Fillers also have a significant effect on the mechanical and structural properties of the gum base and may also act as carriers or lubricants. Fillers frequently used are calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate and talc.

In addition to the above-mentioned classes of ingredients, other ingredients may also be added to the gum base, such as antioxidants, which serve to protect the gum base from oxidation, which can adversely affect its flavor, or reduce its durability.

A typical gum base composition is listed below:

composition (I)	Example 1	Example 2
			Synthetic glue	21.7％	9.8％
Vegetable gum	-	-
			Resin composition	35.0％	41.7％
Waxes and hydrogenated vegetable oils	21.4％	3.3％
			Emulsifiers and processing aids	6.3％	2.9％
Filler	15.5％	42.2％
			Antioxidant agent	0.1％	0.1％
Total amount of	100.0％	100.0％

Most currently available chewing gums are either stick or pellet shaped. Chewing gum pellets comprise a core of gum base mixed with other components (flavours, polyols and/or sugars, plasticizers, etc.) and a coating consisting of sugar or polyols such as maltitol, xylitol, etc.

The conventional pellets are quite large. Spherical or spheroidal pellets may have a diameter of 10-15mm, while rectangular tableted gum may have a size of about 10 x 20mm, or greater.

Chewing gum pellets are becoming more popular in the market place than stick gum, the size of which is due in part to the technical requirements associated with chewing gum formulations; to impart chewy characteristics, a polyol base must be added to the gum base in a proportion of about twice the weight of the gum base. However, for the reasons mentioned above, if conventional production methods are applied in the production of pellets, the result will be unacceptable, since the absolute amount of gum base is too small and the composition is not sufficiently chewable.

On the other hand, the gum base alone enables pellets with acceptable chewability to be produced without the addition of a polyol base. However, the plasticity of such flavored, sweetened gum bases makes rolling into stick or pellet cores difficult, or impossible; moreover, the use of a conventional rolling mill prevents the production of spheroidal products.

Spheroidal pellet gum is desirable for a variety of reasons: for example, the consumer adjusts the amount of chewing gum that needs to be chewed by possibly using appropriate amounts of pellets at different times (e.g., in sequence). Furthermore, small spheroidal pellets will be more liked by children, as chewing something beyond a certain limit is uncomfortable and unsatisfactory for them.

Italian patent No.1180176 from the company gumm Base co.spa relates to a non-cariogenic, low-calorie and sugar-free Gum Base composition characterized by a specific composition of different Gum Base components such as polyisobutylene elastomers, vegetable or animal oils, vinyl polymers, resins, natural gums, waxes, mono-and diglycerides of fatty acids. The gum base with added flavors, high intensity sweeteners and glycerin enables the production of chewing gum with good plasticity and very high gum base content, even in the absence of a sugar or polyol matrix. This patent relates to the production of sticks by rolling a gum base composition, but does not relate to the production of pellets.

US6264999 discloses a flavour base composition, however it always uses erythritol as bulk sweetener. WO96/08157 discloses a method of extruding gum base which also contains flavoring agents.

EP732055 discloses a process for the continuous preparation of chewing gum without separate preparation of gum base. Particular examples in this document also relate to the use of sugars or polyols.

Finally, US6017565 discloses a continuous production process similar to that disclosed in EP732055 and specifies the production of pellets. The use of polyols, in particular sorbitol and mannitol, is also described therein.

Thus, there is no teaching or suggestion available in the prior art for the preparation of small-sized gum base cores containing no sugar or polyol matrix, but flavors and high-intensity sweeteners.

It has now been found that pellets or mini-candies comprising a spheroidal core, said core having a diameter of less than 10mm, preferably less than 7mm, more preferably less than or equal to 5mm, and consisting of a flavored and optionally sweetened gum base, are obtainable by a process comprising the steps of:

a) mixing the gum base components in a mixer at the temperatures normally used;

b) cooling the composition obtained in a) to 60-90 ℃ in a second mixer and adding the flavor and high intensity sweetener with stirring;

c) heating an extruder and extruding the substrate obtained in b) through a small diameter orifice;

d) forming a core by shearing with a rotating blade immersed in a water flow at 10-20 ℃;

e) separating the spheroidal cores obtained in step d), drying and powdering or scattering with talc;

f) possibly, the spheroidal cores are coated.

The production method of the invention not only enables the production of the mini-candies described above, but also eliminates the step of mixing gum base and other ingredients (such as sugar or sorbitol), especially the rolling step.

According to the invention, different types of gum bases can be used, provided that they have some of the necessary properties, such as not sticking to the teeth, and that the chewing is pleasant after the addition of flavors and possibly high-intensity sweeteners. It has been found that a gum base ensuring non-stick and optimal chewing properties is preferably obtained from the formulation in the following examples:

8-15% of an elastomer selected from the group consisting of polyisobutenes and isobutene-isoprene copolymers,

-0-8% of natural gum,

-8-20% of a resin selected from the group consisting of vegetable and synthetic resin esters,

-8-20% of polyvinyl acetate,

-8-25% of hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable or animal oil,

-from 3 to 10% of a wax selected from vegetable waxes, waxes derived from petroleum or synthetic waxes,

-2-10% of emulsifiers and processing aids, in particular glyceryl monostearate, acetylated monoglycerides, lecithin and glyceryl triacetate,

-10-45% of an inert mineral filler,

-not more than 0.1% of an antioxidant.

The flavoring agents used in the present invention may be selected from a wide range, and typical examples include essential oils (peppermint oil, citrus oil, fruit flavors, etc.) or synthetic flavors.

Aspartame, acesulfame k, thaumatin, neohesperidin dihydrochalcone, cyclamate, sodium saccharin, alitame, stevioside, glycyrrhizin, neotame (neotame), sucralose, and the like or mixtures thereof may be used as the high intensity sweetener.

Because of their thermal stability, acesulfame-k and neohesperidin dihydrochalcone are preferably used.

It has been surprisingly found that the use of neohesperidin dihydrochalcone in combination with acesulfame k as a high intensity sweetener in an amount of from 10ppm to 400ppm imparts a long lasting flavor release to the spheroidal pellets of residual gum after dissolution of the polyol coating. This is because of the persistence of sweetness in the residual gum upon chewing, which also gives the taste a long-lasting flavor perception.

The duration of this sweet taste (which is unique for other high intensity sweeteners) derives from an optimal distribution of neohesperidin between saliva and the gum base polymer, which provides a long duration and a long release of neohesperidin in the gum base.

If desired, the sweetener and/or flavor may be encapsulated by known techniques to stabilize them.

Coloring agents and other additives suitable as plasticizers in foods, such as glycerin, sorbitol syrup, and the like, may also be added to the gum base.

A particular embodiment of the process for preparing the pellets according to the invention comprises a first step of feeding all the starting materials (elastomers, polymers, fillers, hydrogenated oils, waxes and any other desired substances) constituting a common gum base into a double-Z mixer. Heated at the temperatures normally used and mixed until a homogeneous, liquid but viscous matrix is obtained. This step is the same as the process used to produce conventional gum bases and can be carried out in any suitable mixer, including a continuous mixer or an extruder.

If a continuous extruder is used, the flavor can be added in the final portion of the extruder without the cooling and mixing steps described below, and the resulting product can be fed directly to the spheroidal core forming apparatus.

If a double-Z or discontinuous mixer is used, the still hot mixing base can be transferred to a second unheated or water-cooled mixer until its temperature reaches about 80 ℃. Flavoring agents and possibly high intensity sweeteners are then added. It is important to use a mixer that minimizes the time it takes to mix with the flavor, to avoid flavor loss, such as a screw mixer with plow blades. It is also important not to excessively lower the temperature in order to prevent problems in the subsequent steps. The ideal temperature of the substrate is 60-90 ℃.

In this step the slurry is pumped and forced into an extruder to form a spheroidal core. The pump body and extruder were heated using steam to prevent seizure of the device. The slurry was immediately cut into small portions of the desired length at the end of the extrusion channel by a rotating doctor blade. The slurry was cut during complete immersion in cold aqueous fluid (10-20 ℃). The cut portions are formed into a spheroidal shape by turbulence of the fluid and are simultaneously cooled and sent to a separation tank where spheroidal cores are separated by centrifugation, collected by a conveyor belt, dried and treated with talc, while water is cooled and circulated.

Because the gum base is hydrophobic, the shaping and cooling process does not cause significant loss of flavor or sweetener.

Alternatively, the flavoring agent may be mixed with the gum base by the following method: the second screw mixer was omitted and a static mixer was inserted between the hopper and the extruder.

The product obtained in this step is complete and can be used directly or after coating.

Conventional coating methods may be used.

The very small size of the core provides an end product in which the coating portion is greater in weight percent than the standard product and constitutes more than 40% by weight of the overall pellet. The coating may be carried out using polyols such as maltitol, isomalt, sorbitol, xylitol, etc., alone or in mixtures. Maltitol and isomalt are particularly preferred.

The pellets are more crispy than other products on the market, taking into account the high percentage of coating and the chosen polyol.

The following examples illustrate the invention in more detail.

Core composition

Composition (I)	Percentage of
		Gum bases	96％
Mint oil flavor agent	3.8％
		Acesulfame potassium	0.19％
Novel hesperidin dihydrochalcone	0.01％
		Total amount of	100％

Coating composition

Composition (I)	Percentage of
		Maltitol	90.25％
Titanium dioxide	4％
		Mint oil flavor agent	1.5％
Glycerol	1％
		Aspartame	0.2％
Arabic gum	3％
		Carnauba wax	0.05％
Total amount of	100％

In this example, the coating comprises 50% of the final weight of the pellet.

Examples of methods for producing cores

1. The gum was prepared in a double-Z mixer at 115 ℃.

2. The substrate was transferred to a screw mixer with a pear knife at 90 ℃.

3. Flavor and sweetener were added and stirred for 60 minutes.

4. Extruding and cutting the extruded, seasoned gum.

5. The cores are formed with a water flow at 10-20 ℃.

6. The core was dried and treated with talc.

Claims (9)

1. A spheroidal chewing gum having a diameter of less than 10mm comprising a flavored gum base sweetened with a high intensity sweetener, wherein the sweetener is selected from the group consisting of acesulfame k and/or neohesperidin dihydrochalcone, and the gum base is selected from the group consisting of:

8-15% of an elastomer selected from the group consisting of polyisobutenes and isobutene-isoprene copolymers,

-0-8% of natural gum,

-8-20% of a resin selected from the group consisting of vegetable resins and synthetic resins,

-8-20% of polyvinyl acetate,

-8-25% of hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated vegetable or animal oil,

-from 3 to 10% of a wax selected from vegetable waxes, waxes derived from petroleum or synthetic waxes,

-2-10% of emulsifiers and processing aids, in particular glyceryl monostearate, acetylated monoglycerides, lecithin and glyceryl triacetate,

-10-45% of an inert mineral filler,

-not more than 0.1% of an antioxidant.

2. The product of claim 1, further comprising a polyol or sugar coating.

3. The product of claim 2 wherein the polyol is selected from the group consisting of maltitol and isomalt.

4. A product as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the core comprises gum base, one or more flavours, and possibly colours and plasticisers.

5. The product of claim 4 wherein the sweetener and/or flavor is encapsulated.

6. A product as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3 wherein the coating comprises at least 40% by weight of the total pellet.

7. The product of claim 1 wherein the gum base is selected from the group consisting of:

-synthetic gum 12.6%

Terpene resin/rosin resin 14.3%

-polyvinyl acetate 14.1%

-hydrogenated vegetable oil 10.9%

-microcrystalline wax 4.8%

-stearic acid monoglyceride 4.0%

0.8% of acetylated monoglyceride

Lecithin 0.4%

38.0% of filler

-antioxidant 0.1%.

8. A process for the production of the product of any one of claims 1 to 7, comprising:

a) mixing the gum base components in a mixer at the temperatures normally used;

b) cooling the composition obtained in a) to 60-90 ℃ in a second mixer and adding the flavor and high intensity sweetener with stirring;

c) extruding the substrate obtained in b) through a small-diameter orifice in a heated extruder;

d) cutting the extruded portion by means of a rotating blade immersed in a water flow at 10-20 ℃;

e) separating, drying and processing the sphere-like core body obtained in the step d) by using talcum powder;

f) possibly, the spheroidal cores are coated.

9. A process for the production of the product of any one of claims 1 to 7, comprising:

a) mixing the gum base components in a mixer at the temperatures normally used;

b) cooling the composition obtained in a) to 60-90 ℃ and adding flavors and high intensity sweeteners upstream of the static mixer;

c) extruding the substrate obtained in b) through a small-diameter orifice in a heated extruder;

d) cutting the extruded portion by means of a rotating blade immersed in a water flow at 10-20 ℃;

e) separating, drying and processing the sphere-like core body obtained in the step d) by using talcum powder;

f) possibly, the spheroidal cores are coated.