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 consisting essentially of: A. at least one solid natural or artificial high intensity sweetener present in amounts of about 0.01% to about 50% by weight of the sweetener delivery system and 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 present in amounts of about 0.5% to about 20% by weight of the sweetener delivery system and selected from the group consisting of lecithin, esters of stearates, esters of palmitates, esters of oleates, esters of glycerides, sucrose polyesters, polyglycerol esters, and mixtures thereof; and C. polyvinyl acetate present in amounts of about 40% to about 93% by weight of the sweetener delivery system and having a molecular weight of about 2,000 to about 14,000.

Claim 15

A method of preparing a chewing gum composition having improved sustained sweetener release properties 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 16

A method of preparing a chewing gum composition having improved sustained sweetener release properties 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 delivering sweeteners 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.

Claim 18

A method of preparing a delivery system useful for delivering sweeteners 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.