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AssigneeKraft Foods Global Brands LLC
InventorsPaul D. Soper, Vesselin Danailov Miladinov, Jose A. Amarista, Ian Smith, Carole Elleman, Mark Taylor, Nigel Kenneth Harry Slater, Mark Edward Eccleston
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The present invention provides gum base compositions and chewing gum compositions having non stick or reduced-stick properties and/or increased degradability. Methods of preparing the gum base and chewing gum compositions, as well as methods of use, are provided.
A gum base comprising:
A chewing gum product comprising:
A method of preparing a chewing gum composition comprising:
A chewing gum composition comprising:
A chewing gum composition comprising:
A chewing gum composition comprising:
A chewing gum product comprising:
A chewing gum composition comprising:
A chewing gum composition comprising:
A gum base comprising:
A gum base comprising:
A method of increasing the degradability of a chewing gum base comprising:
A method of increasing the degradability of a chewing gum base comprising:
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.
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About 1 year 7 months of term left · ends 30 May 2028 (estimated)
The present invention relates to chewing gum compositions and products that degrade over time after chewing, where degradation is defined as a process whereby the deposited gum cud becomes brittle and begins to break down into particles and/or becomes less adhesive, either by the effect of environmental factors such as rain, sun, frost, etc., or by the effect of cleaning processes, including the action of detergents. Moreover, the present invention further relates to chewing gum bases for use in such chewing gum compositions which contribute to the ability of the chewing gum compositions and products to degrade due to environmental influences or cleaning processes.
Conventional chewing gum products are not “environmentally-friendly.” They can maintain stickiness during and after chewing and adhere to the ground (as well as any other surface with which the gum product may come into contact) if care is not used with regard to disposal of the gum product. The stickiness of such conventional chewing gum products results, in large part, from the use of elastomer solvents (i.e., resins) and other “tacky” ingredients (such as wax) during the manufacturing process. In particular, conventional chewing gums manufactured using elastomer solvents exhibit a continuous or substantially continuous phase when chewed. As the continuous phase is characterized by an amorphous elastomer matrix containing sticky elastomer solvents, the gum bolus that results upon chewing also is sticky.
Many elastomers, and particularly high molecular weight elastomers (e.g. 200,000 mw or greater), used in chewing gum compositions are usually solid at room temperature. They are usually purchased as blocks of solid material and generally require softening using solvents to be useful in chewing gum compositions. Softening elastomers in the absence of elastomer solvents is difficult, because the solid elastomer must still be processed into a continuous homogeneous and flowable mass to be useful in chewing gum compositions.
The patent or application file contains at least one color photograph/photomicrograph. Copies of this patent or patent application publication with color photographs/photomicrographs will be provided by the Office upon request and payment of the necessary fee.
FIGS. 1A and 1B are photographs that illustrate how gum samples were applied to a brick and subjected to an adhesion test as described herein.
FIGS. 2 through 13 are photographs that illustrate the cud residues remaining on brick surfaces after force was applied to various gum samples to remove the gum samples from the brick in accordance with an adhesion test as described herein.
In some embodiments, there is provided a gum base including:
(a) an ester or ether of at least one polymer including hydrolyzable units or a combination thereof; and
(b) an elastomer.