Chewing Gum Consultant

Professional Chewing gum industry meeting point

Natural Gum – Continued 10/02/2022

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 10:48 AM
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A clear trend in recent years has been the use of natural gum base, from sapodilla trees in Mexico. Different companies have launched chewing gums formulated using only natural ingredients. The gum base is one of them but also the flavours and sweeteners are natural. Some of them use the claim “plastic free”.

I have talked in this website about natural gums in the past (The Humble, Endoca, Two Wise Chimps, BenBits, Simply gum, Chewsy,…) , so this is not new to us. I just want to introduce here three companies that were exhibiting in ISM:

TRUE GUM www.truegum.com

FOREST GUM www.forestgum.de

TREE GUM www.treegum.ch

Only the first one has the website in English. “True gum” has been in the market for quite a few years now and can be found in many supermarkets around Europe. Recently, it became part of The Humble group, a Swedish company that specializes in Oral Care products (not only gum) and offers its own natural gum as well.

Recently, we see also the well-known brand STIMOROL, by the giant Mondelez, also offering a natural version. This is available only in Denmark and Switzerland and it comes with 2 different flavours (Spearmint&Eucalyptus and Lemon&Ginger). I find quite interesting that one of the big names in the chewing gum industry has decided to take this way as well. Let’s see how this works in the market and… let’s see if other big names (Mars/Wrigley, Perfetti Van Melle, Lotte,…) decide to follow in the near future.

As this is a clear growing market segment, I wonder if the supply of natural gum base from the trees will be enough to cover the demand!!

 

Probiotic gum 09/02/2022

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product,Uncategorized — Joan Mestres @ 10:43 AM
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When we talk about functional gum, we must mention the PROBIOTIC launched by the Spanish company CHICKLES. I was amazed to discover it in ISM. I thank Mr Samuel Bonete for his detailed explanation at their stand. Developing a probiotic gum is something different from any other functional gum that we can find in the market, it is disruptive.

The gum contains Bifidobacterium Lactis (BFL1) and claims to reduce weight (it focuses on the waist in particular). In fact the well-documented website https://chicklesgum.com/en/chickles-gum-slimfit/ contains scientific evidence to support this claim. I invite you to visit it and learn about the properties of this innovative chewing gum.

 

GoBeDo 08/02/2022

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 1:49 PM
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ISM is always a good source of information and novelties. This year the event has been smaller and less crowded than in the past, due to Covid19, but at least we were able to meet again in person after a long time and see that many companies are very active and that the chewing gum industry is evolving. I will post during next days about some concepts/products/news that I saw in Köln.

The first one is “GoBeDo” a chewing gum containing Chitosan and Zinc, claiming to boost immunity. It comes in a 9-piece blister with carton sleeve with peppermint flavour. For sure, during this pandemic consumers are more aware of certain healthy claims and are searching for products helping to enhance protection of the body and overall wellness. Immunity, of course is a big issue and this gum fits perfectly well into that request from the market.

Here you can find more: GoBeDo

 

Tic Tac Gum – Ferrero 21/07/2021

Filed under: Market & Fairs — Joan Mestres @ 5:45 PM
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I got news that Ferrero is going to discontinue its TicTac gum that was launched not so many years ago (see other posts in this blog).

The Italian company went into the gum segment by launching this interesting product and also by acquiring the gum base producer and supplier Eurobase, in Belgium.

They are probably redefining their strategy in this field as (I guess) the targets were not met. Actually I do not see the product in the shelves of the supermarkets, although we must also take into consideration that the pandemic has hit the whole gum market, so these are hard times for many the companies. The increase in cost of raw materials, the freight charges up in the sky, … all these are factors that do not help the business.

I will be very interested to see the new moves from Ferrero and from other companies, as for sure there will be some “re-positioning”.

 

Philip Morris acquires Fertin Pharma 02/07/2021

Filed under: Market & Fairs — Joan Mestres @ 1:23 PM
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1st July 2021 brought important news to the chewing gum industry. The giant Philip Morris has acquired the Danish Fertin Pharma from EQT (which controlled 70% of the shares) and Bagen-Sorensen.

You can find information and details of the operation in many sources. I leave you here just a couple of links:

https://www.bloomberg.com/press-releases/2021-07-01/philip-morris-international-announces-agreement-to-acquire-fertin-pharma

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/philip-morris-buy-nicotine-gum-maker-fertin-pharma-push-smoke-free-products-2021-07-01/

Fertin has always been a reference when it comes to functional and pharmaceutical chewing gums. One of their strong points are the nicotin-containing products. This type of gums, used for smoke-cessation, fit well into the Philip Morris strategy of creating a smoke-free environment. Let’s see what the future brings to us in the market!

 

Chewsy – Natural Gum 20/02/2020

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product — Joan Mestres @ 12:53 PM
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Another of the big trends nowadays, not only when talking about chewing gum, but also in the food industry and even further, is the “natural” claim.

 

In ISM’20 I found CHEWSY (www.chewsygum.com). Thus gum in produced in China by a UK-based company. It claims that contains only xylitol as sweetener (no sugar, no aspartame) and that it is made using natural gum base (“plastic-free gum base” as they define it). I have some personal issues though, accepting the claim of “biodegradable”. The fact of being natural does not bring automatically the biodegradability. But it would be great if the product really degrades after some short period of time. Please allow me to be a bit skeptical on this matter because the products that have been launched in the market with this claim, have not really succeeded, for one reason or the other.

In any case, good proposal that deserves to be followed, which I will do with interest.

 

SUJAL – Nepal 05/06/2018

Filed under: Market & Fairs — Joan Mestres @ 9:29 AM
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It is always amazing when I discover chewing gum in some remote places. (Here I should apologize for my European-centric vision of the world). But, I must admit that when I visited for the first time  (back in the early 2000s) this company in Nepal, I was deeply impressed. First because of the beauty of Pokhara and its surroundings, then because of the size of the company and its facilities, the care about safety and quality and last, but not least, because of the warm welcome from the Management (Mr Niranjan) and staff.

Yes, it has taken too long to write about them in this website, but today I fix this error. They were exhibitors for the first time in ISM, last January and I wish them all the success.

Sujal is a large industrial group producing several confectionery products (waffers, lollipops, toffe, candy,..). In terms of gum, they are producing a format which is not very common nowadays: Stick gum in multipack. This format was one of the most successful at the beginning of the chewing gum history, with brands like “Doublemint”, “Juicy Fruit” by Wrigley still in the US market. Now, the coated dragees and the mini-sticks/batons/tabs (name them the way you prefer) have taken the market share. That’s why it is interesting to show you this product. Other than this, they have as well bubble gum presented in cut&wrap format.

I invite you to visit the website of Sujal www.sujal.com.np

 

        

 

 

ILHAM SWEETS – Turkey 31/05/2018

Filed under: Market & Fairs — Joan Mestres @ 8:57 AM
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Turkey has great gum producers. Although some of the companies that existed in the past have disappeared (either taken over by a larger international group, or just closed down) there is still a huge production of all types of gum in the country. Also gum base is supplied by Turkish manufacturers.

ILHAM SWEETS (www.ilhamsweets.com)  is one of these chewing and bubble gum producers which covers a broad range of presentations and formats. From Bubble gum filled with fizzy powder or liquid, to gum balls with many different shapes and sugarfree chewing gum presented in blisters or in plastic bottles. The company covers many flavours (including extrem sour, cola, cinnamon,…) and funny shapes (like basketball, tennis balls, rugby, football, golf, …). I find specially interesting the gum balls coated with “pearl effect”.  I leave you some pictures.

 

MARS WRIGLEY in Kenya 28/05/2018

Filed under: Market & Fairs,Production & Machinery — Joan Mestres @ 1:36 PM
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http://www.confectionerynews.com just informed that MarsWrigley will open a new factory near Nairobi (link). I remember visiting the Wrigley factory in Kenya already in the early 2000s, and it was quite impressive. They were producing chewing gum coated pellets under the brand “PK”.

 

p.k.-and-juicy-fruit

This is gum with sugar. Sugarfree is still not mass-produced in SubSaharian Africa.

This new factory was already announced back in 2015, with expectations to start operations in early 2017. Well, finally here! Good to see new, large factories of gum.

Some there links to this news here:

Business Daily Africa

Africa Business Chief

Food Drink & Franchise

 

WACKER – Germany

Filed under: Market & Fairs,New product,Research — Joan Mestres @ 8:43 AM
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The German company that in 2017 launched the concept of 3D printed gum (link to my post on this) is focusing now on another concept: Deposited Chewing gum. Their ingredient “Capiva C 03“, which is compatible with the standard candy process allows the mass to be deposited, for instance in Mogul lines. Then, depending on the shape of the mould, the piece of gum will be completely different and, in any case different than the 3 or 4 conventional formats that we all know.

This concept of “Deposited Gum” was also developed by Cafosa in the late 90s. The Barcelona-based company developed a gum base called “Forma-T” which (unlike other gum bases) produced a mass which flowed enough to be deposited. This was marketed under the name “Gum To Mould”. As Technical Assistance Manager of Cafosa at that time, I tested this in Carle & Montanari chocolate depositors (we produced gums with shapes of any praline in the market), in Aasted Mikrowerk “Frozen cone” technology (we produced center filled gum with much more liquid -over 50%!- than any other gum in the market) and in APV Baker candy depositors (producing candy with gum in the center). We did not check the Mogul lines at that time, which is something that Wacker is now doing. Later in the development, other companies joined the project, like Firmenich from the flavouring point of view, or Roquette for the sweeteners. This is an extract from Cafosa’s website in 2007:

 

Magic Chewing gum

Cooperating with Cafosa, the world’s leading gum base supplier, the French company Roquette has developed a new approach to applying sugar-free ingredients to current deposited technology.

The sugar-based Gum to Mould or deposited gum technology developed by the leading gum base supplier Cafosa offers chewing gum manufacturers the opportunity to develop new concepts in product shapes, colour combinations and centre-fillings. It also helps sweet producers to extend the boundaries of their existing product range to include chewing gum-type products.

Using Cafosa’s special gum, Roquette has been able to create a formula that takes advantage of the combination of two polyols, Maltisorb maltitol and Xylisorb xylitol. The formula has been successfully tested in chewing gum production at Baker Perkins, the depositing process specialist.

These results, which could not be achieved with conventional chewing gum processing, include chewing gum filled with a flavoured liquid centre; stripped chewing gums with different colours; chewing gum in a sugar-free, hard-boiled candy; coated chewing gum.

International Food Ingredients. Nº 1 2007 
I think that Cafosa eventually dropped this idea, but now Wacker is taking it with a new approach and with better results.