For those of you that are interested on knowing more and more about technological aspects around chewing gum, I can reccommend the book “Formulation and Production of Chewing and Bubble Gum”, by Douglas Fritz. You can find it in different internet stores ( http://www.woodheadpublishing.com/en/book.aspx?bookID=1965 or http://www.amazon.com/Formulation-production-chewing-bubble-gum/dp/0955808529 and others). In this book you will find the top relevant issues that interest you.
Kraft pushes for biodegradable gum 11/07/2012
The giant Kraft has a post in its website asking for inputs that will help them develop a biodegradable gum base. Those inputs can be “novel and inventive ingredients, processing methods and technology solutions”
You can read more on:
http://www.kfcollaborationkitchen.com/EN/What/Pages/NeedInformation.aspx?bid=E50EFBE8-E5E4-4044-9C79-4ECA806A84E6
It has been many years that the main players in the chewing gum field are researching in this direction, with many filed patents but limited results in the market. As the issue become hotter and hotter, maybe we can really see something relevant in the market soon….
New products 10/07/2012
Did you know about Satiereal(R)? This ingredient coming from saffron is said to induce satiety, thus assisting on slimming and weight management diets. You can read more details about it on www.satiereal.com
This ingredient has been used by the company Fembody, in the US to produce a gum that claims these properties. http://www.fembodynutrition.com/shop/product-tag/satiereal-saffron-extract/
http://www.fembodynutrition.com/shop/appetite-control-gum/
It is not my intention to support or promote this product. It IS my intention to show to you any chewing gum that goes out of the standard, like those using specific ingredients or having special shapes or packagings. This is on eo fhte reasons why I love Japan. The products that you find there are “special”, more sophisticated, using ingredients that are not so common in the rest of the world. If you come to know of any of these interesting products, please let me know.
More news about a biodegradable (?) gum base 09/07/2012
Kraft (via RSSL center in UK) is looking for novel food approval for a new gum base recently developed. This gum base seems to contain a polymer currently used in cosmetic (oral care) products. You can read the article here:
What surprises me is that the article mentions that the expected time for degradation is going to be “equivalent to other synthetic polymer gum bases”.
We’ll wait for more news on this and see if finally we get a real breakthrough in the market.
European market data 29/06/2012
According to Nielsen, the sales of chewing gum from 2001 until Nov 2010 were 813 Million US$ in Italy, the number one country in Europe in terms of value. Number two, very close is Germany with 804 M US$, then France and at more distance Spain and UK with vlaues almost half of those for the leaders.
Instead, if we see the figures for candy, the number one in volume by far is Germany with 333 Million kilos of candy consumed. Far from that is second place for UK with 172 M kg, France 109 M kg and then Holland, Italy and Spain. The consumption of candy per capita is lead by Germany, UK, The Netherlands, Denmark and Ireland, with more than 3kg per person and year. Portugal and Greece show the lowest figures with less than 1 kg per person and year.
Mixers for gum – Achema
The other day i was mentioning that i was in Achema, in Frankfurt/Germany. I did not mention that there was another company related to the chewing gum industry that was exhibiting there: This is Battaggion, from Italy.They are specialists in mixers for different industries and, of course, some gum factories around the world use their double sigma mixers. http://www.battaggion.com
Chewing gum to keep a healthy heart. Resveratrol 27/06/2012
Have you heard of the “French Paradox”? This term is associated to the low heart disease occurence in France, even the diet in this country contains a high level of fat. It is claimed that one of the elements that can contribute to this fact is the red wine (consumed at relatively high levels in France), and more in particular, to one of the ingredients in this red wine: The resveratrol. This substance is a polyphenol with antioxidant properties.
Some months ago was launched to the US market by Cheiron Holdings a gum named “Heart Strong Gum™”. This product contains resveratrol from the firm Fluxome (www.fluxome.com).
Now this danish firm announces a partnership with another danish well-known firm in the gum industry, Fertin AS (www.fertin.com), to produce chewing gum containing resveratrol.
You can see more of this news on http://www.confectionerynews.com/Formulation/Fluxome-close-to-developing-resveratrol-chewing-gum-for-Europe
It is always a good sign that companies research and develop products with high added value. Chewing gums offering something else than just a nice chew and flavour are always welcome in the family. It seems that the chewing gum industry is not able to fully break the high wall between food and pharma (the main exception to this rule is the well-know Nicorette (www.nicorette.com), the chewing gum produced by Johnson & Johnson containing nicotine. In this case, resveratrol gum will not be a pharmaceutical product (the active has GRAS classification if the US) but a functional one.
ACHEMA 25/06/2012
Just back from the Achema fair in Frankfurt last week. This is a big show for all machienry producers. Not so much related to chewing gum (more on packaging, pharma and chemical industry) but Gabler was exhibiting its extruders for pharma applications. As you may know this company specializes on extrusion, rolling&scoring and coating systems for chewing gum. It inherites the knowledge from previous WLS.
Chewing gum is bad for short-term memory! Can you believe that? 16/05/2012
Maybe now I know the reasons for my memory problems!
A new study shows that chewing a gum has a negative effect on the short term memory. That’s interesting because there are some studies proving more or less the opposite. Please see the link for details of this new study. I find the whole thing really surprising, and the last sentence of the article is the best! Flavour companies: Cheers!
By Oliver Nieburg 10-5-2012
Smaller gum packages
Continuing the last post, there are still more news about this trend in US. Producers go into smaller packs of chewing gum in order to position themselves in the right unit price.
Considering the economic crisis in most of Europe, I would not be surprised that this crosses the Atlantic quite soon. Let’s count the weeks….
By Oliver Nieburg.
Chewing Gum Consultant 