Sweetener delivery systems containing polyvinyl acetate

Claim 1

A chewing gum composition having prolonged sweetness duration comprising a gum base and a stable sweetener delivery system capable of effecting a controlled release of the sweetener comprising: A. At least one solid natural or artificial high intensity sweetener selected from the group consisting of amino acid-based sweeteners, dipeptide sweeteners, glycyrrhizin, saccharin and its salts, acesulfame salts, cyclamates, steviosides, talin, dihydrochalcone compounds and mixtures thereof; and B. An emulsifier selected from the group consisting of lecithin, stearates, ester derivatives of stearates, palmitates, ester derivatives of palmitates, oleates, ester derivatives of oleates, glycerides, ester derivatives of glycerides, sucrose polyesters, polyglycerol esters, animal waxes, vegetable waxes, synthetic waxes, petroleum wax and mixtures thereof; and C. Polyvinyl acetate present in amounts of about 40% to about 93% by weight of the total composition and having a molecular weight of about 2,000 to about 14,000.

Claim 16

A method of preparing a chewing gum composition having improved sustained sweetener release properties as claimed in anyone of the claims 1 to 14 which comprises: (1) Preparing a sweetener delivery system wherein the sweetener is protected by a matrix coating prepared by the process comprising (A) entrapping a sweetener in a polyvinyl acetate coating comprising the steps of melting and blending the polyvinyl acetate with an emulsifier and dispersing the sweetener uniformly therein; cooling the mixture to ambient temperature while continuing to mix; (B) grinding the resultant mixture to the desired particle size; (2) Adding the resultant delivery system to a homogeneous mixture of a gum base and remaining chewing gum ingredients; and (3) Forming the resultant mixture into suitable chewing gum shapes.

Claim 17

A method of preparing a delivery system use­ful for deliverying sweeteners as described in anyone of the claims 1 to 10 comprising the steps of: (A) entrapping a sweetener in a polyvinyl acetate coating by melting and blending a low molecular weight polyvinyl acetate with an emulsifier and dispersing the sweetener uniformly therein; cooling the mixture to ambient temperature while continuing to mix; and (B) grinding the resultant mixture to the desired particle size; and (C) optionally coating the particles formed in (B) with a hydrophobic mixture comprising a fat or wax blended with an emulsifier to form an additional protective layer on the delivery system particles.