Method for making coated chewing gum products with a coating including an aldehyde flavor and a dipeptide sweetener

#The present invention relates to methods for producing coated chewing gum products. More particularly, the invention relates to producing coated chewing gum products containing flavor and a dipeptide sweetener in the coating. Preferably, an antacid is also added to the chewing gum coating such that it will have a fast release from chewing gum for maximum effectiveness.

#Coated chewing gum products are well known. Many prior art patents disclose chewing gum products coated with sugar sweeteners or polyol sweeteners. U.S. Pat. No. 4,317,838, for example, discloses a method of applying a sugarless coating to chewing gum. The coating may include calcium carbonate as an anti-sticking agent. Synthetic sweeteners, including many different high-intensity sweeteners, are also suggested for use in the coating.

#It has been discovered that some high-intensity sweeteners, particularly aspartame (APM), are unstable and degrade while in the coating syrup. Often the coating syrup is made in advance and held at an elevated temperature for several hours until it is used. This problem was identified earlier and addressed in copending application Ser. No. 09/591,256, now issued as U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,900.

#The method of the present invention involves the use of at least two separate coating syrups. The first syrup will include a bulk sweetener. The second syrup will include a high-intensity dipeptide sweetener. Additional coating syrups may also be used, such as finishing syrups, which also include a bulk sweetener. The aldehyde flavor may be applied with the first syrup or separately. When an antacid is to be included in the coating, it will preferably be included in the first coating syrup. Preferably the first coating syrup is essentially free of dipeptide sweeteners, meaning that the syrup does not contain any, or contains such a low amount of dipeptide sweetener that the dipeptide sweetener does not provide a perceptible additional sweetness.

#The first and second coating syrups are applied to chewing gum cores to form the coated chewing gum product. The application can be sequential or simultaneous. Simultaneous application includes applying the two syrups at the same time through different application mechanisms, or premixing the syrups and applying them through a common application mechanism. The preferred application method includes applying the syrups separately, but alternately. For example, one of the coating syrups may be applied both before and after the application of the other coating syrup. Specifically, the first coating syrup may be applied, followed by application of the second coating syrup, followed by further application of the first coating syrup.

#This type of application will generally mean that the coating syrups are held in separate tanks from the time they are prepared until they are applied to the cores. If the syrups are mixed and applied together they should preferably be mixed just prior to being applied to the chewing gum cores. The amount of time that they may be mixed before application will depend on the rate that the high-intensity sweetener degrades. Preferably they will be mixed for less than about 30 minutes prior to application.