If you have some minutes to hear this podcast you will learn many interesting things about chewing gum.
I had the pleasure to be interviewed by Cynthia Graber and Nicola Twilley for the 25th chapter of their “Gastropod”.
https://megaphone.link/VMP7473222034
You can also find chapters about many other food-related subjects. In life, not everything is gum! 😉
Some days ago the Brazilian gum base producer Sweet Gum (I posted about them in the past) reached an agreement to acquire the leading gum base supplier world-wide, Cafosa, from Mars. The deal is pending approval from the Authorities, so probably we will hear an official communication about this matter once it is completed.
Cafosa, which is part of Mars, was showing red figures for the last years. Negative financial results, loss of customers and poor performance might be some of the reasons (among others) that led Mars to take this move.
I look forward to see how this changes the game in the gum base sector. I worked for 12 years in Cafosa and I have seen the changes and transformation of the company from a family-owned Catalan SME (Mr Carulla founded the company within the General de Confiteria -later Joyco- Group) to being absorbed by Wrigley and later being part of Mars. Now starts a new era within an environment that has been hit by the Covid19 pandemic and with a decline of chewing gum consumption in many countries.
The number of Gum Base suppliers in the world is quite stable. There are no big ups and downs in this field and the number of options is quite limited. Maybe the last “big news” on this aspect were the disappearence of one of pioneers: “LA Dreyfus”, founded in 1909 and merged with Cafosa on 2005 (already a long time ago!) and the more recent acquisition of the Belgium-based “Eurobase” by the Italian “Ferrero” in 2016.
That’s why when I get news about another player, I want to share them with you. This is the case of “Sweet Gum”, from Brazil (www.sweetgum.com). The company belongs to the RB group and they offer a range if gum bases for different applications (chewing, bubble, non sticking, …). RB Group is specialist on gum rosin, gum turpentine and derivatives (which are ingredietns of the gum base itself).
I think it is interesting to have new players in this market and I look forward to see the development of such new offer!
I have posted in the past about DRIVE GUM (www.drivegum.com). This gum contains caffein + guaraná.
Now the same company offers “NATUR GUM” , which instead of focusing on the energy, it goes in the direction of the natural ingredients. It claims to use 100% natural ingredients, which includes natural gum base from Central America, the flavours, the sweeteners (Xylitol and/or Stevia). Even the packaging!
There are 3 types of gum in the range, which include functional ingredients like vitamin D and fluoride, while the compnay is working on other SKU, like “Multivitamin”, “Hunger inhibitor” and “Hemp”.
Witht his additions to the previous Energy Gum, the portfolio covers a good variety of functional applications.
The owner of the company, Mr Nazareno Mario Ciccarello, has been clever enough to register the domain www.functionalgums.com
Today I will take again the review of companies that were exhibiting in ISM. We are already well into March and I am still posting about ISM!! I should speed this up… but there were so many chewing gum producers in the show that it is taking me longer than expected.
A main market for chewing gum, not only for the local products but also for the importance of exports, is Turkey.
Turkey as a country is always well represented in ISM, and we find most of their companies under the umbrella of the “Turkish Confectionery & sweet Promotion Group” www.turkishconfectionery.org
During next days I will be presenting a few turkish companies and today I will start by ERSAY. This is a company based in Istambul, where they have three factories.
The company was founded 27 years ago and employes about 50 people. You can find more at www.frutsi.com.tr It is also known as ASPAK, and they are specialized in bubble gum (cut & wrap and balls). They also produce their own gum base.
Their main brand is FRUTSI (in fact the web site I mentioned before comes under that name). This edition of ISM, Ersay introduced Sour Shox extra and watermelon coming as single ball in a flow pack. Also “love gum” which are gum balls in a flip top bad, “soccer gum”, “Turbo”, and “girls” with a sticker. Finally, it is worth to mention the “Dino”, which is a cut&wrap product with mastic flavor. I always found this flavor quite peculiar…. maybe because I am not Turkish…
More about Turkish producers tomorrow… Then we will go for the mexicans…
There are not many news about ingredients for gum base. Basically because, as you know, this field of research is quite restricted and companies keep their own developments for themselves. However, yesterday, confectionerynews.com informed about a new resin from Wacker (Germany) which claims to improve many properties of the gum base. The name of this ingredient is “Capiva” and according to the article it reduces the processing time, improves the flavour release, increases the shelf life, reduces the stickiness and increases the elasticity.
I am happy that some of the research on gum base production is openly communicated and published. Usually, the general public can follow the developments on this field only by the patents that are being filed now and then, so this is like fresh air sneaking through. I hope it is not the last time and that the community can read more of these type of news.
Here is the link to the article:
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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.
Chewing Gum Consultant 