Chewing Gum Consultant

Professional Chewing gum industry meeting point

ELMA – Mastiha Chewing Gum 28/10/2026

Filed under: New product — Joan Mestres @ 10:00 AM
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Mastic is one of the earliest materials to be chewed by human beings (together with chicle and other natural resins and rubbers). The plant where it is extracted from is Pistacia lentiscus, which is grown in Greece and, in particular in the island of Chios.

This gum that I describe here is made by the “Chios Gum Mastic Growers Association” and it contains 2,5% of real mastic. The one I tried contains lemon flavour and comes in 10-pieces blister. There are other flavours that I did not have the chance to taste (Rose, Spearmint, Cinnamon …) also in sugar and sugarfree versions. The pieces are standard coated dragees. One of the gums contains Fluoride and has an oral care claim. The original mastic resin has oral care benefits itself.

Interesting product, very different to any other than can be found in the market.

 

NEURO GUM 27/10/2026

Filed under: New product — Joan Mestres @ 10:00 AM
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This must be the leader when it comes to Energy Gums in the US.

A company that fully specializes in Functional Gums, mainly on “Energy & Focus” but they also offer other versions.

Their flagship “Energy & Focus” gum contains 40mg of Caffeine per piece, plus 60mg of L-Theanine, 41% NRV of B6 and 100% NRV of B12. It is a triple-layer compressed gum which is quite unique, but it adds one more feature that makes it very special: The sweeteners they use are Stevia and Monkfruit. If you know of any other chewing gum that contains Monkfruit, please let me know, as this is a new natural sweetener that is making its first appearances in different products, especially in the US where it has been approved for some time now.

Then they offer the “Extra strenght” version of it, with 100mg of Caffeine + 60mg L-Theanine + 82% NRV B6 + 200% NRV B12.

Both of them are offered also as mints, the same as the items: “Sleep & Recharge”and “Calm & Clarity”.

The “Memory & Focus” gum is formulated with L-Theanine (60mg), Ginseng extract (50mg), B6 (41% NRV) and B12 (100% NRV).

I found both products excellent. A very good example of what a functional gum can be.

You can read more on their website: https://getneuro.eu/

 

HEALTHSPAN Elite 26/10/2026

Filed under: New product — Joan Mestres @ 7:14 PM
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Did you know about Healthspan?

It is a brand of vitamins and supplements based in Guernsey which has a very broad range of products

https://www.healthspan.co.uk/about-us/

They have an interesting “Kick-Start Gum”, which is a chewing gum with 100mg of Caffeine per piece. This is in the high range of Caffeine content for a chewing gum, but besides it also contains vitamin B3, B6 and B12 (15% NRV each). There is an interest in the market for these type of products so I thought i would share this one here for you.

A very special characteristic is that this is a tabletted/compressed gum, produced with a tabletting machine that can work with two layers. One of the layers is just candy (white, thin) and the other is the gum itself (thicker and blueish). Not many companies can produce such a gum, so this makes it very unique. It comes in blisters with 10 pieces each and the packaging is really premium.

I found the taste and the texture really impressive.

On top of that it is an “All Blacks” official partner!

 

MASTER CHEWING GUM AND CANDIES – LEBANON 06/04/2026

Filed under: Mergers & Acquisitions — Joan Mestres @ 10:00 AM
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Today I’d like to share with you the press release issued by the Ghandour & El Shaar Family Office:

Announcement of Ownership Change at MASTER CHEWING GUM AND CANDIES CO SAL

Beirut – Lebanon – (03/2026)

The former shareholders of MASTER CHEWING GUM AND CANDIES CO SAL (“the Company”) announce the successful completion of the sale of the business to an undisclosed buyer for an undisclosed amount.

As part of the transaction, selected assets, including the registered trademarks Cheque and PIX, were transferred, along with certain operational components of the Company.

Following the completion of this transaction, the Ghandour and El Shaar families are no longer involved in the ownership, management, or operations of the Company or its activities.

As the business transitions to new ownership, the families wish to clarify that they are not affiliated with or responsible for any current or future activities conducted under the Company’s name or its associated brands.

The Ghandour and El Shaar families remain focused on their independent ventures and future brand development initiatives.

They extend their best wishes to the new owners for continued success.

No further details regarding the transaction will be disclosed.

 

XYLIBIO – Dc24 hours 11/02/2026

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 10:32 AM
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This is an interesting chewing gum that I saw during ISM and wanted to share with you. It is produced in China but owned by a Canadian company. It comes in dragees/pillows and presented both in plastic bottles, blisters and in ziptop bags.

One of the versions contains only Xylitol as sweetener and they display this fact very clearly in all packagings and promotional materials. Of course, they focus on Oral Care.

Another version uses Xylitol and Erythritol, claiming that it contains less calories than the one which is 100% xylitol.

The company presents also an “Energy gum” with Guarana and Taurine and also another version with Hydroxyapatite, which goes also in the direction of promoting Dental health. The very interesting range is completed by a gum with ginger oil and honey extract, with the claim of increasing appetite.

The company also offers compressed mints and lollipops.

See the link to their website: https://www.dc24hours.com/

 

ISM 2026 09/02/2026

Filed under: Market & Fairs — Joan Mestres @ 3:51 PM
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Back from ISM one more year. My first one was in 1997 and this show has changed a lot since then. While the organization is opening new branches in Dubai (ISM Middle East) and Tokyo (ISM Japan), the original one in Köln, Germany becomes smaller and smaller. One of the factors that is playing against the German show is the difficulties that some potential participants (I know cases of exhibitors and visitors) find when trying to obtain a visa for Germany. It is much easier for them going to Dubai instead, so it was a good move to open one edition there.

This year the sister exhibition “ProSweets” with a lot of focus on machinery and packaging has been also quite smaller, mainly due to the fact that later in May we have Interpack, in Düsseldorf, which is the great show for this field of activity. By the way, from 2027 the ProSweets will be renamed to “ISM manufacturing”. The part of the show devised for ingredients, that was part of Prosweets in the past, has already been renamed to “ISM ingredients”. So now “ISM” will be an umbrella with many different branches and sites.

Despite all this, it is still an excellent place where to find novelties, meet people and do business. So I would definitely recommend it again and again. Looking forward to 2027!! (30th Jan – 3rd Feb)

https://www.ism-cologne.com/trade-fair/ism/ism-worldwide/

 

Ferrero 11/07/2025

Filed under: Mergers & Acquisitions — Joan Mestres @ 2:02 PM
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It has been a while without news from me, but today we have a very significant one: Ferrero acquires Kellogg. According to different sources, the deal involves 3 billion USD. This move strengthens the position of the Italian producer (Nutella, Ferrero Rocher, Kinder) in the US market.

I leave you more details from the company’s website:

https://www.ferrero.com/int/en/news-stories/news/ferrero-to-acquire-wk-kellogg-co

I had my doubts before posting this, as this is a blog about chewing gum industry, and although in theory Ferrero is a player in this industry, in reality I do not see movements in the market from them. If any of you know of anything, please let me know. I’ll be glad to read about them!

 

Fleer – Spain 04/04/2024

Filed under: New product — Joan Mestres @ 10:17 AM
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I already talked about this company (founded Spanish but now under the American Tootsie Roll) in this blog.

What I find interesting is the broad range of products that they cover:

  • Chewing gum dragees under the brand CLIX. 12 flavours. Presented in individual flow packs and also in zipbags with 30 pieces each
  • Chewing gum sticks: 4 flavours, also under the brand CLIX
  • Functional chewing gum, CLIX PRO with vitamins and ginseng
  • Bubble gum chunks (cut&wrap) under the brand DUBBLE BUBBLE, one of the historical brands in the chewing gum industry. There is one side brand which is sugrafree, quite unusual for a bubble gum for children. Another line extension offers the pieces in the shape of a bear and still another is a tongue painter.
  • Bubble gum balls and melons

So this covers different formats, flavours and target markets.

They also launched a line of Cotton candy (“FLUFFY STUFF”), which is not gum but this could be a new development for the future, although the production of cotton candy gum is a real challenge!

www.fleer.es

 

Per Os Biosciences – USA 26/03/2024

Filed under: General,New product,Production & Machinery,Research — Joan Mestres @ 6:56 PM
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By large, most of the chewing gum produced in the world uses a “wet” formulation and the process involves an extrusion. However, there are alternatives to this and today I’d like to talk about a company in the US that excels in the tabletted gum process. PerOs Biosciences produces functional gum using a patented process which differs from other tabletting processes. For example, it does not require a double layer and besides, they claim that the percentage of active ingredient can be larger versus other similar processes. This tabletting involves compressing the gum powder in a tablet press. It is a “dry” formulation, as the ingredients are all (or a huge majority) in powder form. This is specially interesting when the active that has to be added is sensitive to temperature. The whole process is carried out at room temperature (or at least there is no significant heating as in the extrusion), so very convenient when the active can be damaged by heat.

The company has some success cases, collaborations and studies with different entities. Maybe an interesting one is the one related to an anti-viral chewing gum ( so, it might prevent Covid19) carried out together with the University of Pennsylvania.

As not many companies in the world are proficient in tabletting chewing gum, this is one that has to be considered, for sure.

 

BARKLEYS GUM – TUTTLE & CO 04/03/2024

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 6:29 PM
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As usual each ISM is a source of interesting products and a learning experience. This time I picked up the product from Barkleys, which is marketed highlighting its intensity. This feature and the unique packaging are the differential elements of this brand. It comes in tins, which is not a usual packaging for gum. The reason is that the origin of the company (Tuttle & Co) and still today the main product are the mints, which are presented, of course, in metal tins. That’s also the reason for the claim of “intense gum”, which is perfectly aligned with the mints (sugar, sugarfee and chocolate filled). The gum is a line extension and presents 3 different flavours: Peppermint, Spearmint and Cinnamon. The tins contain 30g (ca.22 pieces) of dragée gum, which is much more than a standard blister pack.

I leave you here the websites, so you can see these products

https://barkleysgum.com/#

https://www.tuttleandcompany.com/