GB2092425A - Confectionary product, in particular chewing gum and process for the manufacture thereof - Google Patents

Abstract

A confectionary product consists of a basic confectionary composition and conventional additives, e.g. for chewing gum, wherein at least one flavouring, aroma and/or other additive of which the release is to be delayed is contained in at least one phase of the basic composition, which phase consists of (a) at least one wax without functional groups, e.g. a paraffin wax, a polyethylene wax or a polyethylene glycol, which is substantially not miscible with the flavouring etc., and (b) at least one further wax having functional groups which contains said flavouring etc. in a stable solution or mixture, e.g. beeswax or a higher fatty alcohol, a higher fatty acid such as palmitic, stearic or arachic acid, or ester thereof; this further wax forms an homogenous mixture or a stable solution with the first wax. The ratio by weight between the two waxes may be from 1:10 to 10:1. Pharmaceutical products e.g. Dextrometorpham or dimethylaminohydroxy benzhydrylether can be thus included as additives to chewing gum. Products may be formed in which the flavour changes after an initial period in the mouth.

Description

SPECIFICATION Confectionery product, in particular chewing gum, and process for the manufacture thereof This invention relates to a confectionery product, in particular to a chewing gum and to a process for the manufacture thereof. In this product at least one of the flavourings, aromas and/or additives which it contains has a time-delayed release, so that during the consumption of the product the effect of these materials lasts for a long time and does not, as in e.g.

the case with the known commercial chewing gum products, disappear after only a few minutes leaving a tasteless mass of chewing gum in the mouth. The invention is, however, not limited to confectionery products in the form of chewing gum, but also encompasses products such as boiled sweets, caramels, compressibles, dragées, jelly and gelatinebased gums which contain flavourings, aromas and/or additives in the manner described below and release these flavourings, aromas and/or additives with a time-delay in the manner described below.

Chewing gums with delayed aroma release are already known, but they have the disadvantage of being relatively difficult to manufacture and of not having met the expectations as regards the delayed aroma release.

U.S. Patent 3,795,744 described a process for manufacturing a chewing gum according to which a polyvinyl ester is dissolved in a solvent, a flavouring is dispersed in the resulting solution, and the solution is mixed with a second solvent which is miscible with the first solvent but is a non-solvent for the polyvinyl ester, so that the polyvinyl ester separates in the form of small particles in which the flavouring is encapsulated. The product obtained in this way is separated from the solvents and added to a chewing gum base from which the flavouring is then released with a time-delay.This process has the obvious disadvantage that large quantities of solvent have to be handled since a separation of the polyvinyl ester in the form of discrete particles from concentrated solutions is not possible, and that the manufacture of the solutions and the separation and drying of the separated product is relatively timeconsuming and uneconomical.

The invention relates to a confectionery product, in particular to chewing gum, with protracted release of at least one flavouring, aroma or additive, the manufacture of which may be effected in an extremely simpler manner and without the aid of solvents and recipitation processes.

The subject of the invention is thus a confectionery product, in particular chewing gum, consisting of a basic confectionery mixture and additional ingredients such as syrups, sugar, colourings, flavourings, aromas and/or additives, wherein at last one flavouring, aroma and/or additive of which the release is to be delayed is contained in at least one phase forming a part of the basic component, which phase consists of (a) at least one wax (as hereinafter defined) without functional groups which is substantially not miscible with said flavouring, aroma or additive, and (b) at least one further wax (as hereinafter defined) having functional groups on the molecule which contains said flavouring, aroma or additive in a stable solution or mixture and which, in turn, forms a homogenous mixture or a stable solution with the wax without functional groups.

A further subject of the invention is a process for the manufacture of such a confectionery product, in particular chewing gum, which is characterised in that at least one of said additional ingredients is mixed to form a solution or suspension in a melt of the wax with functional groups, this melt is added to a melt of the wax without functional groups, which melt will essentially not mix with the additional ingredients, and the molten or solidified and crushed wax mixture is mixed with a melt or paste of the basic confectionery mixture.

The term "wax" is used herein according to the definition published in Fette, Seifen, Anstrichmittel (Fats, Soaps, Paints) 56, p 153, Germany (1954), i.e.

materials which, as a rule, have the following characteristics: 20"C firm but kneadable or hard but brittle, coarse to fine grained, transparent to opaque, but not glass-like, melting at about 40"C without disintegrating, non-stringy, very temperaturedependent consistency and solubility, polishable under light pressure. Thus apart from vegetable waxes, insect waxes and fossil waxes, the term "wax" also comprises the natural and synthetic paraffin waxes, i.e. the solid hydrocarbons which are in practice used as waxes.

Waxes without functional groups are mainly solid aliphatic hydrocarbons of various configurations and are generally called paraffin waxes. The majority of paraffin waxes are natural products, but some are manufactured synthetically. Examples of paraffin waxes are those made from mineral oil, in particular micro-crystalline paraffin waxes, polyethylene waxes and polyglycols.

Waxes with functional groups which may be used particularly advantageously in the invention are higher fatty alcohols of wax-like consistency (wax alcohols), higher fatty acids (wax acids) with at least 15 C atoms, such as palmitic acid, stearic acid or arachic acid, fatty acid mixtures with 15 to 17 atoms and a deformation point of 60 to 70"C or mixtures of such waxes or materials with a wax-like consistency, or an ester thereof such as also occur in the natural waxes. A typical natural wax with functional groups is beeswax.

Since some of these wax systems or fat-waxsystems, especially those which contain paraffin and beeswax, solidify very slowly, it is advantageous to add during the manufacture of the confectionery product 1 to 3% by weight of powdered silica, based on the total weight of the formulation, in order to obtain compact, crushable compounds. The quantity of the silica used depends upon the melting point of the system, i.e. the lower the melting point, the more silica is added and vice versa. A suitable form of silica is that sold under the registered Trade Mark "Aerosil", which is a silica (obtained by hydrolysis of SiCI4 in a flame from a blow lamp) with a SiO2 content of more than 99.8%.

The basic components used in the process according to the invention for the manufacture of the confectionery products are, depending upon the type of the desired end product, thermoplastic chewing compounds, fillings, compression compounds, consisting e.g. of icing sugar and small quantities of binding agent (e.g. fat, starch, gelatin or tragacanth), jelly-type compounds or boiled sweet compounds which may already contain a flavouring, aroma and/or additive and to which the flavouring, aroma and/or additive for which a delayed release is desired during consumption is added by the process according to the invention. With this process one can add several flavourings, aromas and/or additives in various wax systems to the basic component to achieve a time-delayed release of differing durations.

In carrying out the process according to the invention the flavourings, aromas and/or other (e.g.

pharmaceutical) additives are dissolved or suspended in a wax with functional groups (such as fatty acid ester mixture), and this wax phase is then distributed in awaxwithoutfunctional groups, the structure of which is fine crystalline to amorphous (paste). Preferably the wax with functional groups and the wax without functional groups are used in a ratio of between 1:10 to 10:1. The flavouring, aroma and/or pharmaceutical additive is added to the molten wax with functional groups in an amount of 2 to 60% by weight based on the weight of said wax.

As the dispersed (or apparently dissolved) fatty acid acts as a physical contamination upon the wax, shorter-chain wax molecules are also prevented from crystallizing and solidify amorphously around the dispersed mixture of fatty acid or fatty acid ester.

As a result a finely structured encapsulation of the fatty acid droplets or fatty acid ester droplets by the water-insoluble amorphous wax takes place, whereby with suitable technology the structure of this dispersion is within the microscopic range. When chewing such structures in e.g. a chewing gum compound, these amorphous pastes are squeezed by the chewing and biting, thus slowly releasing the built-in aromas or additives. A two-fold flavour may thus be given to certain types of confectionery such as fillings, boiled sweets, sweetmeats and certain sugar compounds, which last longer in the mouth; the high molecular waxes have the tendency to stick to the mucous membranes of the mouth and to produce further sensations to taste, even after the sweet has been swallowed or the chewing gum has been removed.

It would be expected that a fatty acid such as stearic acid will dissolve in a paraffin wax. Aromas, ethereal oils and special additives do not dissolve in a paraffin wax. If, however, according to the invention an additive such as peppermint oil is dissolved in stearic acid, and if molten paraffin with a long chain-length is added to the molten solution, then a smooth dispersion without precipitation takes place, whereby after quick solidification the waterinsoluble paraffin firmly encapsulates the stearic acid containing the aroma, the stearic acid also being difficult to dissolve in water.A similar effect occurs with ail sorts of systems, such as beeswax as inner phase and polyethylene glycol 20,000 as outer phase, or any higher fatty acid ester as inner phase with a polyethylene wax with a chain length of 100 to 200 and a melting or deformation point of preferably 20 .

Retarding characteristics of such systems are very much dependent upon the nature of the system. The more the outer phase tends towards crystallization, the smaller will be the occluding effect and the protracted aroma effect. The finer the grain of the wax or the easier it is to prevent microcrysrallization of the wax, the longerwill be the retarding effect.

Therefore systems such as beeswax in paraffin are relatively quick releasing systems with only a moderate retarding effect, whilst for instance a fatty acid ester between C15 and C17 together with a polyethylene wax with a chain length of 700 ethylene units gives retarding effects which in chewing gum systems results in the flavour lasting up to an hour.

In this way a wide range of systems may be formed: e.g. three flavourings may be used: 1) The normal flavouring which is usual has a duration of 2 to 4 minutes during chewing of the chewing gum; 2) One which is released quickly, e.g. dispersed in beeswax and paraffin wax; and 3) A longlasting system dispersed in a higher fatty acid ester and a higher polyethylene wax.

Change-of-flavour phenomena can also be achieved by this method, for instance an orange flavour may be chosen which is arranged as usual to last 2 to 4 minutes, followed by a long proracted system such as stearic acid mixed with fatty acid ester as inner phase and polypropylene wax as outer phase, which phase does not start to release its aroma until 3 to 4 minutes later. If peppermint oil is worked into the second phase, a chewing gum is obtained in which the flavour changes from orange to peppermint oil.

Pharmaceuticals can thus be included as additives to chewing gum. Oii-soluble additive, such as the drug Dextrametorpham, may be built into the inner oil phase and may be retarded by addition to a polyolefin wax. Since this additive has a very bitter taste, unpleasant sensations of taste are prevented due to the slow release of the additive, and moreoverthe anti-catarrhal drug is supplied to the mucous membranes over a longer period of time. The same applies to additives such as anti-emetics, e.g.

dimethyl aminobenzhydryl ether. This antihistamine and anti-emetic additive is also soluble in oil and has an extraordinarily bitter taste. By incorporating it in one of these systems, the additive is not detected as bitter even during protracted chewing, since the local threshold of stimulation for the additive in the bitter flavour is not exceeded.

Caffeine is e.g. also suitable for longlasting release from chewing gum, the coffee aroma being encapsulated in such a way that the coffee taste lasts 30 to 60 minutes with minimal amounts of caffeine being simultaneously supplied to the mucous membranes.

In addition to the wide variety of possible combinations of additives, the system can be manufactured by various methods.

As is known from normal crystalline systems, the fineness of the crystalline structure depends upon the speed with which a mixture is cooled down. Care must therefore be taken during manufacture that the molten inner phase, which is added to the molten outer phase, is cooled down quickly after mixing This may be effected by allowing the molten mixture to drip onto a cooled surface, such as a metal belt coated with a release coating such as polytetrafluoroethylene, whereby small lentil-shaped solidified drops are automatically formed which may be added to the chewing gum or to another edible product.

It is, however, especially advantageous, if these molten mixtures are kept under slight pressure by means of nitrogen or another inert gas (to prevent oxidation) and fail from a suitable equipment from a certain height which is experimentally determined, upon the mix or paste (e.g. chewing gum at a temperature of 50 to 60 to 80"C), meeting with it in an already plastic condition, and if the paste-like droplets produced in this way are seized immediately and mixed in.

By use of two or more dropping apparatus above a mixer, various different effects can be achieved, not only as regards aromas but also certain other additives.

It is not mandatory that the additives dissolve in the inner phase. Certain suspensions also can be produced so as to give a protracted effect. In the manufacture of chewing gum it is e.g. essential that the sweetener also lasts for some time since without the accompanying sweetener flavours cannot be adequately detected. All these systems may therefore contain micronised saccharin, pure saccharin or sodium cyclamate in suspension giving a certain protracted effect which heightens the taste sensations especially if accompanied by ethereal oils. The same effect can be achieved with pharmaceutical additives by e.g. replacing the previously mentioned Dextrametorpham with a Dextrametorpham hydrochloride which again is incorporated as a suspension in micronized form.

The invention will now be explained in detail by way of the following examples, in which all parts are by weight.

Example 1 50 parts of polyethylene wax with a chain length of 700 ethylene units are melted in a pure aluminium vessel which has been preheated to 140"C, and a melt of 50 parts of an ester of a mixture of C 15 to C 17 fatty acids with a deformation point of 60 to 70"C is prepared in a second vessel and also heated to 1 200C. Added to this fatty acid phase are 20 parts peppermint oil, 4 parts menthol and 2 parts finely powdered pure saccharin, whereupon the whole is transferred to the first melting vessel under nitrogen.

After mixing the two wax phases in the nitrogen current, the mixture is allowed to drip through a heated valve vertically from a height of 2 m through a cooled pipe onto a cooled p.t.f.e.-coated metal belt.

At the end of the metal belt the solidified droplets are removed by a brush.

The material obtained in this way may, in crushed condition, be worked into any type of basic confectionery compound.

Example 2 50 parts of hard paraffin wax are melted at a temperature of 110"C in a first vessel as in Example 1, and 30 parts of stearic acid are mixed with 20 parts orange oil in the second vessel and the resultant solution is then pumped via a current of nitrogen into the first vessel. From there the mixture is allowed to drip through an aluminium pipe with a length of 1 m, through which a cold air current is passed from the bottom to the top, directly onto a Z-mixer containing chewing gum mixture at a temperature of 50"C. The product is a chewing gum with delayed release of orange flavour.

Example 3 50 parts polyethylene glycol or m.wt. 20,000 are melted at 1 500C, and separately 30 parts beeswax and 3 parts powdered silica with 20 parts menthol are dissolved. The second mixture is then added to the first mixture, resulting in a smooth solution. The viscous mixture is quickly poured onto cooled cups and, once solidified, ground in a cooled mill. The product may then be worked into a basic chewing gum mixture.

Example 4 30 parts of a C fatty acid ester with a melting point of 60 to 70"C are heated to 100"C, and 10 parts Dextrometorpham are mixed with 15 parts menthol.

Agitating is again effected by introducing nitrogen which forms small bubbles, then 80b parts of molten paraffin mixed with 6% of powdered silica based on the weight of the end product are introduced under pressure.

The mixture is delivered onto a cooled surface with a cooled air current, and then ground in a cooled mill and the appropriate amount is added to a chewing gum mixer after checking the strength.

Example 5 In a vessel 100 parts polypropylene wax with a chain length of 500 are heated to 1 200C and melted.

In another vessel 40 parts fatty acid ester are simultaneously melted and mixed with 20 parts dimethyl amino hydroxy benzydryl ether; the resultant smooth mixture is pressurized by means of the hitrogen current into the first vessel and the further mixture is allowed to drip immediately upon a cooled metal plate. It may be used after grinding and checking the strength.

Example 6 A first vessel contained 100 parts polypropylene wax with a chain length of 700 at a temperature melting point of approximately 1 300C. A second vessel contained 20 parts fatty acid ester, melting point 60 to 70"C, and 10 parts fatty acid together with 20 parts menthol and 25 parts peppermint oil. This mixture is finely powdered and suspended with 3 parts of pure saccharin, with the aid of a nitrogen current. After introducing the second phase into the first phase under pressure and mixing the two by means of a nitrogen current, the mixture of phases is added from a height of 1 to 2 m via a cooled air cu rrent ta a running mixer which contains a chewing gum compound at approximately 60"C which is ready for extrusion and into which an orange aroma had already been mixed in the usual manner.

The product when chewed tastes of orange for about 2 minutes and then slowly changes to peppermint and menthol.

Claims (14)

1. Confectionery product consisting of a basic confectionery composition and additives thereto, wherein at least one flavouring, aroma and/or other additive of which the release is to be delayed is contained in at least one phase forming a part of the basic component, which phase consists of (a) at last one wax without functional groups which is substantially not miscible with said flavouring, aroma or additive, and (b) at least one further wax having functional groups on the molecule which contains said flavouring, aroma or additive in a stable solution or mixture and which, in turn, forms a homogenous mixture or a stable solution with the wax without functional groups.

2. A product as claimed in Claim 1,wherein said first wax comprises a paraffin wax, a polyethylene wax or a polyethylene glycol.

3. A product as claimed in Claim 1 or 2, wherein said second wax comprises a higher fatty alcohol, higher fatty acid or ester thereof.

4. A product as claimed in Claim 3, wherein said second wax comprises palmitic, stearic or arachic acid.

5. A product as claimed in Claim 3, wherein said second wax comprises beeswax.

6. A confectionery product as claimed in any preceding claim which is chewing gum.

7. A confectionery product as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein said additive is an oil soluble pharmaceutical.

8. A confectionery product as claimed in Claim 1, substantially as hereinbefore described in any of the Examples.

9. A process for the production of a confection ery product as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein at least one of said additional ingredients is mixed to form a solution or suspension in a melt of the wax awith functional groups, this melt is added to a melt of the wax without functional groups, which melt will essentially not mix with the addition al ingredients, and the molten or solidified and crushed wax mixture is mixed with a melt or paste of the basic confectionery mixture.

10. A process as claimed in Claim 9, wherein the ratio by weight of the waxes of type (a) and (b) is from 1:1 to 1:1 0.

11. A process as claimed in Claim 9 or 10, wherein said additive is added in an amount of 2 to 69 parts per 100 parts of the wax (a).

12. A process as claimed in any of Claims 9 to 11, wherein the molten mixture of waxes and additive is cooled quickly by allowing itto drop onto a cooled surface to form drops of cooled mixture.

13. A process as claimed in any of Claims 9 to 11, wherein the molten mixture of waxes and additive is kept under pressure in an inert gas atmosphere and is allowed to drip onto the basic confectionery composition into which the resultant drops are immediately mixed.

14. A process as claimed in any of Claims 9 to 13, wherein the basic confectionery mixture is chewing gum mixture held at a temperature of 50 to 80"C.