Method for producing chewing gum products, and compressed chewing gum tablets

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for producing chewing gum granules. The method comprises at least the steps of feeding a gum composition including at least gum base into an extruder ( 2 ), pressurizing the gum composition in the extruder, extruding the gum composition through a die plate ( 5 ), and cutting the extruded gum composition in a liquid filled chamber ( 4 ) so that the cut gum granules have weights per granule in the range of 0.0001 g to 0.008 g

1 . Compressed chewing gum tablets, wherein the compressed chewing gum tablets are obtained by
 extruding a gum composition through a die plate and cutting the extruded gum composition in a liquid filled chamber into gum granules,   conveying the extruded and cut granules to a tablet pressing apparatus, and   including the granules in compressed chewing gum tablets, and wherein the gum granules cut in the liquid filled chamber have average diameters below 2.5 mm.   
   
   
       2 . Compressed chewing gum tablets as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the individual tablet includes at least 35 granules of a gum composition comprising at least 51% Wt. of gum base. 
   
   
       3 . Compressed chewing gum tablets as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the individual tablet includes at least 125 granules of gum composition, and one or more additional components, such as bulk sweetener powder, flavours, nutrients, pharmaceuticals, or fillers. 
   
   
       4 . Compressed chewing gum tablets as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the tablets have a weight in the range of 0.5 g to 2.5 g per tablet. 
   
   
       5 . Compressed chewing gum tablets as claimed in  claim 4 , wherein the tablets have a weight in the range from 0.6 g to 1.5 g per tablet. 
   
   
       6 . Compressed chewing gum tablets as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the granules are dusted or coated when conveyed to the tablet pressing apparatus. 
   
   
       7 . Compressed chewing gum tablets as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein, before being conveyed to a tablet pressing apparatus, the extruded granules are mixed with one or more ingredients selected from the group consisting of flavours, bulk sweeteners, intense sweeteners, colouring agents, fillers, nutrients, pharmaceuticals, and tabletting aids. 
   
   
       8 . Compressed chewing gum tablets as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the tablets are coated. 
   
   
       9 . Compressed chewing gum tablets as claimed in  claim 1 , wherein the gum composition when extruded includes at least gum base and one or more of sweeteners and/or flavouring agents. 
   
   
       10 . Compressed chewing gum tablets as claimed in  claim 9 , wherein the gum composition includes one or more intense sweeteners when extruded. 
   
   
       11 . Compressed chewing gum tablets obtained by
 feeding a gum composition including at least gum base into an extruder,   pressurizing the gum composition in the extruder,   extruding the gum composition through a die plate,   cutting the extruded gum composition in a liquid filled chamber, said cutting producing gum granules of weights per granule in the range of 0.0001 g to 0.008 g,   conveying the extruded and cut granules to a tablet pressing apparatus, and   including the granules in compressed chewing gum tablets in a mixture of one or more additional components, selected from the group consisting of bulk sweetener powder, flavours, nutrients, pharmaceuticals, and fillers.   
   
   
       12 . The compressed chewing gum tablets of  claim 11 , wherein the tablets have a weight in the range of 0.5 g to 2.5 g per tablet. 
   
   
       13 . The compressed chewing gum tablets of  claim 11 , wherein the tablets have a weight in the range of 0.6 g to 1.5 g per tablet. 
   
   
       14 . The compressed chewing gum tablets of  claim 11 , wherein each individual tablet includes at least 35 granules of a gum composition comprising at least 51% by Wt. of gum base. 
   
   
       15 . The compressed chewing gum tablets of  claim 11 , wherein the gum composition of said granules comprises flavour. 
   
   
       16 . The compressed chewing gum tablets of  claim 11 , wherein the gum composition of said granules comprises intense sweetener. 
   
   
       17 . The compressed chewing gum tablets of  claim 11 , wherein each individual tablet includes at least 125 granules of gum composition and one or more additional components, selected from the group consisting of bulk sweetener powder, flavours, nutrients, pharmaceuticals, and fillers. 
   
   
       18 . A method for producing chewing gum products, wherein the method comprises at least the steps of:
 feeding a gum composition including at least gum base into an extruder,   pressurizing the gum composition in the extruder,   extruding the gum composition through a die plate,   cutting the extruded gum composition in a liquid filled chamber, and wherein the cutting of the extruded gum composition in the liquid filled chamber produces gum granules having average diameters below 2.5 mm.   
   
   
       19 . The method as claimed in  claim 18 , wherein said weight per granule is in the range of 0.0003 g to 0.03 g. 
   
   
       20 . The method as claimed in  claim 18 , wherein the weight per granule for at least a first fraction of the granules is in the range of 0.0003 g to 0.003 g. 
   
   
       21 . The method as claimed in  claim 20 , wherein the weight per granule for at least a first fraction of the granules is less than 0.002 g. 
   
   
       22 . The method as claimed in  claims 18 , wherein the weight per granule for at least a second fraction of the granules is in the range of 0.002 to 0.02 g 
   
   
       23 . The method as claimed in  claims 22 , wherein the weight per granule for at least a second fraction of the granules is the range from 0.002 g to 0.005 g. 
   
   
       24 . The method as claimed in  claim 20 , wherein the granules in the first fraction has a first average weight which is lower than the average weight of a second fraction of the extruded granules. 
   
   
       25 . The method as claimed in  claim 18 , wherein the gum com-position is extruded though die openings in a die plate having openings of at least two different sizes to simultaneously obtain granules with different average weights. 
   
   
       26 . The method as claimed in  claim 18 , wherein the cut granules are cooled in water during transfer from the liquid filled chamber to a de-watering device, and that the transfer time from cutting to de-watering is less than 6 s. 
   
   
       27 . The method as claimed in  claim 18 , comprising the further step of dusting or coating the granules in between de-watering and conveyance to the tablet pressing apparatus. 
   
   
       28 . The method as claimed in  claim 27 , wherein the dusting or coating is made with ingredients selected from the group consisting of magnesium stearate, cornstarch, sugar compounds, polyols, cellulose ethers, acrylic polymers and copolymers, sweeteners, flavours, waxes, or colours. 
   
   
       29 . The method as claimed in  claim 28 , wherein the dusting or coating is made with the sweetener sorbitol. 
   
   
       30 . The method as claimed in  claim 18 , comprising the further step of classifying the granules prior to conveyance to the tablet pressing apparatus. 
   
   
       31 . The method as claimed in  claim 18  and comprising the further step of mixing the extruded granules with one or more ingredients selected from the group consisting of flavours, bulk sweeteners, intense sweeteners, colouring agents, fillers, nutrients, pharmaceuticals, and tabletting aids. 
   
   
       32 . The method as claimed in  claim 18 , wherein the gum composition fed to the extruder is gum base. 
   
   
       33 . The method as claimed in  claim 18 , wherein the gum composition includes one or more flavouring agents when extruded. 
   
   
       34 . The method as claimed in  claim 18 , wherein the gum composition includes one or more sweeteners when extruded.