Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Normally noningestible chewable material or process of...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-09-13
2003-03-25
Corbin, Arthur L. (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Normally noningestible chewable material or process of...
Reexamination Certificate
active
06537595
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a chewing gum composition having excellent persistence in a flavor.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has so far been known that when a liquid flavoring is added to a chewing gum, it is taken in the gum base and reduced in generation of a flavor.
Accordingly, a flavoring is added to a chewing gum in a powder form in many cases. Also, a chewing gum stays in a mouth for a fixed time and is requested to provide a tasty flavor during chewing, and therefore a powdery flavoring is required in terms of persistence of a flavor.
Usually, a spray-drying method is a typical example of processes for producing a powdery flavoring with drying a liquid flavoring.
The spray-drying method is a very excellent method, but as shown in
FIG. 6
(
a
), the resulting powder comprises very fine particles and therefore has such defects in handling that it is lacking in fluidity or absorbs moisture in a certain case. Further, the flavor is revealed partially at the beginning of chewing.
In recent years, fine particles obtained by spray-drying are pelletized to granules for the purposes of improving the physical properties and the flavor thereof, and apparatuses provided with a function of fluidized bed granulation in a spray-drying apparatus have been developed.
Granular flavorings produced by these apparatuses are formed by a granulation mechanism of fluidized bed agglomeration and are of an amorphous form having a porous agglomerating structure as shown in
FIG. 6
(
b
). Therefore, while they are improved in physical properties, they have the problem that when they are added to a chewing gum, the flavor is revealed partially at the beginning of chewing and lacking in persistence.
Also, as shown in
FIG. 6
(
c
), granulated flavorings obtained by a wet stirring-granulating apparatus are as well of an amorphous form having a porous agglomerating structure. Therefore, while they are improved in physical properties similarly to the case described above, they have the problem that when they are added to a chewing gum, the flavor is revealed partially at the beginning of chewing and lacking in persistence.
Further, when producing spherical granulates which are dense and have a beautiful appearance as a finished product, an extrusion granulating apparatus is used. As shown in
FIG. 6
(
d
), in this case, cylindrical pellets are once produced and then subjected to a rolling type sphering apparatus to be molded into spherical granules, and they are subjected to finish drying. Accordingly, involved are the problems that a lot of steps are required and that the resulting granules have a too large particle diameter, so that it is inadequate in a certain case to use them as a powder flavoring for a chewing gum.
Accordingly, it is the existing situation that a satisfactory flavoring which is suited to a chewing gum composition as a flavoring having excellent persistence has not yet been obtained and that a chewing gum composition having excellent persistence in a flavor is desired.
The present invention is intended to solve the conventional problems described above, and an object thereof is to provide a chewing gum composition which is retarded a flavor component from eluting in a mouth and reveals a strong flavor even after staying in a mouth for a long time and which has excellent persistence in a flavor.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Intensive researches repeated by the present inventors in order to solve the conventional problems described above have resulted in finding that a powder flavoring to be added to a chewing gum which comprises firm and dense granules is the most suited to persistence in a flavor and further finding that the granular flavoring is produced by granulating by means of a specific apparatus which can continuously produce spherical granules directly from a liquid raw material, and thus the present invention has been completed.
That is, the present invention comprises the following items (1) to (4):
(1) A chewing gum composition containing a granular flavoring having a bulk density of 0.40 to 0.95 g/cm
3
which is obtained by a fluidized bed layering granulating method using a spray-drying type fluidized bed granulating apparatus capable of continuously producing spherical granules directly from a liquid raw material.
(2) The chewing gum composition as described in the above item (1), wherein the granular flavoring has a hardness of 0.5 to 1.0 gf/mm
2
.
(3) The chewing gum composition as described in the above item (1) or (2), wherein the granular flavoring has an average particle diameter of 50 to 1000 &mgr;m.
(4) The chewing gum composition as described in any of the above items (1) to (3), wherein the granular flavoring is contained in a proportion of 0.01 to 5% by weight based on the total amount of the chewing gum composition.
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Tsujimoto Hiroyuki,Food industry,9. 30., issue p. 18-36 (1998), (Feature Article: Food granulation and micro capsule technology).
Abe Shinobu
Fujimoto Keiji
Hyodo Masami
Tokizane Makoto
Corbin Arthur L.
Darby & Darby
Lotte & Co., Ltd.
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