Rob McCarthy, commercial assistant at encapsulation technology company, TasteTech, told this publication that its latest menthol ingredient, which is designed to be used as a coating on chewing gum to ensure longer lasting flavour release, has been a year in development and provides 15 per cent more menthol that the firm’s previous offering.
“To ensure maximum product differentiation from other ingredient suppliers, we recognized that we needed to be the only player on the market able to produce a natural stabilized menthol powder that could provide 95 per cent pure menthol concentration that also allowed ease of handling in a facility.
He said the firm’s new generation menthol ingredient is a fine free-flowing powder that is four times stronger than spray dried alternatives and thus chewing gum processors can use a lower quantity of the TasteTech product to achieve the same result as when using the spray dried menthol.
“Our product is a has a lot of science behind it and thus it has a premium positioning in terms of price but the 95 per cent pure menthol quantity means less is more for today’s cost conscious confectionery manufacturers,” argues McCarthy.
The barrier between the fine menthol particles in the powder, he continued, means processors integrating it into their gum avoid the processing drawbacks so often associated with melted menthol crystals use due to their unappealing characteristics such as odour and the potential of the resulting liquid to recyrstallise.
McCarthy said TasteTech’s technical experts are open to collaboration with chewing gum manufacturers in terms of new product development and he encourages producers to undertake sampling trials with the new menthol ingredient.
“We know the product works in chewing gum applications, as we have the data to support the success of our 80 per cent version, and we believe the potential exists for the new menthol product to be extended to other confectionery applications,” he added.