MXPA00005549A - Sugar-free hard coatings prepared from liquid mixtures of erythritol and sorbitol - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a sugar-free hard coating prepared from a liquid coating syrup comprising a mixture from sorbitol and erythritol. Coating with liquid mixtures of sorbitol and erythritol gives a crunchy hard coating, which is well adhered to the gum base. The invention also relates to products coated with the said compositions.

Description

SUGAR-FREE HARD COATS PREPARED FROM LIQUID MIXTURES OF ERITRITOL AND SORBITOL TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to sugar-free hard coatings prepared from a coating syrup comprising a mixture of sorbitol and erythritol. The present invention relates to sugar-free hard coatings which have good adhesion to the cores consisting of edible, chewable or pharmaceutical components. The invention also relates to products coated with said compositions. Coatings based on the compositions of the present invention exhibit good crunching and / or cracking properties.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Conventional rotating tray methods for preparing hard coatings generally work with sucrose, but the most recent advances in these processes have allowed the use of other carbohydrate materials to be used in place of sucrose. Sucrose is harmful to teeth and causes tooth decay due to the easy formation of acids. Therefore, the coatings are currently increasingly made of sugar-free compositions. The patent of E.U.A. No. 4,127,677 discloses a chewing gum coated with sugar-free xylitol, which provides an intense cooling effect and has a pleasing mild sensation. However, the cost of xylitol is high and partially replacing the xylitol in the coating would be an advantage. In order to obtain good hard coatings, uniform rapid crystallization must occur during application and drying. WO 95/07625 describes the advantages of at least partial replacement of xylitol with erythritol in the coating of chewing gums. In a specific example, erythritol and xylitol are used together in a single layer, since both polyols are co-crystallized. Preferably, the xylitol portion of the solids in the solution should be about 40% to about 80% xylitol, the solids in the solution comprising about 20% to about 60% erythritol. However, Example 6 demonstrates that hard coatings are easily peeled off from the rubber core and have a light sanding finish. This example demonstrates that the application of the polyol blends in hard coatings is very sensitive to the ratio of polyols and depends on the type of polyol applied. In addition, the appearance of the coatings is sometimes affected by the difficulties of crystallization.

On the other hand, apparently sorbitol is apparently a good substitute for sugar in sugarless preparations. However, it is well known that sorbitol can be used as an ingredient in the core but can present difficulties in applying sorbitol to hard coatings, due to its hygroscopic nature. The main drawback of the use of sorbitol is that the resulting coating layers do not exhibit the same crunching and crunching properties as conventional sucrose-based coatings. The patent of E.U.A. No. 4,238,510 describes a method for coating sorbitol, wherein it is ensured that sorbitol crystallizes. With this method repeated cycles are carried out comprising a) the application of a first coating syrup containing sorbitol, an adhesion component or binder and a film-forming agent, b) application of a dry fine powder in the form of a mixture that it comprises sorbitol in powder form, a moisture absorbing component, an anti-scaling component and a dispersing agent. It is believed that the crystalline powder acts as a seed crystal for the saturated sorbitol solution. However, the result obtained is not satisfactory, since the coating layer is not evenly distributed, and rough surfaces are obtained, while the hard coating is not as crispy as that obtained with the sugars that are normally used. The patent of E.U.A. No. 4No. 423,086 discloses that hard coatings based on sorbitol can be obtained when a coating syrup having a dry matter concentration between 60 and 85% by weight is applied and the syrup is rich in sorbitol in an amount greater than 80%, preferably greater than 95%, and most preferably even greater than 99%. On the other hand, coatings based on sorbitol have a lower cost but lack the important cooling effect of the hard coatings based on xylitol which provides the smooth satisfactory feeling and which is especially desirable for the application of hard coatings in chewing gums . In this aspect, the coatings of sorbitol are improved by the addition of other polyols which have this important cooling effect. However, the patent of E.U.A. No. 5,536,511 mentions that it has been difficult in practice to use more than 5% sorbitol in a xylitol coating, and at these low levels, sorbitol acts as the crystallization modifier. These coatings with limited amounts of sorbitol do not have the advantage of profitability. Until today, hard coatings based on sorbitol contain more than 80% sorbitol, preferably more than 99% sorbitol, or the hard coatings are based on mixtures of sorbitol with other polyols such as xylitol, but subsequently the amount of sorbitol is practically limited to 5%. EP 0813817 describes a process for coating cores with a mixture of sorbitol and other polyols, wherein the concentration of sorbitol is not limited to 5%. The procedure that is applied is different from the rotating tray procedures, which only apply liquid coating syrups, and consequently the products obtained are different. The sorbitol syrup is applied to a rotating mass of nuclei and subsequently at least one different polyol is added in crystalline form. Preferably, the polyol is selected from the group consisting of lsomaltr, xylitol and erythritol. The crunch property is at least comparable to that obtained with sucrose. However, the aforementioned method requires the addition of the second polyol in crystalline form. Thus, there is a need in the market for an inexpensive sugar-free coating prepared from liquid blends of polyols that result in a hard crunchy coating having good adhesion to the gum base.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to sugar-free hard coated food products comprising a hard coating and an edible, chewable and / or pharmaceutical core characterized in that at least one layer of the hard coating comprises a mixture of sorbitol and erythritol, wherein the substance Dry of the mixture comprises between 1% to 50% w / w of erythritol. The present invention relates to edible products with hard coating without sugar wherein the dry substances in the mixture comprise between 5% and 50% w / w of erythritol, preferably from 5% to 45% w / w of erythritol, very preferably between 20% and 45% p / p of erythritol. The present invention further relates to edible products with sugar-free hard coatings wherein the hard coating layer comprising a mixture of sorbitol and erythritol has good adhesion to the core. The present invention describes edible products coated with a sugar-free hard layer, wherein the hard coating layer comprises binding agents, dispersing agents, film formers, coloring agents and / or flavoring agents. The present invention also relates to edible products with sugar-free hard coating wherein the hard coatings comprise from 1 to 100 layers. The sugar-free coatings of the present invention are used to coat the chosen cores from the group consisting of pharmaceutical tablets, chewing gums, candied products (such as candies), chocolate and nuts. The present invention describes edible products with a hard coating, which are coated by the application of a rotating tray method. The process for preparing edible products with sugar-free hard coating comprises the addition of a liquid coating syrup to the rotating mass of the cores in a rotating tray characterized in that the liquid coating syrup comprises a mixture of sorbitol and erythritol, in wherein the dry substance of the mixture comprises between 1% and 50% w / w of erythritol, and the application of the layers is repeated up to 100 times.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 is an image of a scanning electron microscope, with a magnification of 250x, measured at 10 kV, of the cross section of a gold-coated sample. It shows the hard coating prepared with the liquid coating syrup of the mixture of 60% w / w sorbitol and 40% w / w erythritol. It is clearly observed that the hard coating is very well adhered to the rubber base. Figure 2 is an image of a scanning electron microscope, with a magnification of 250x, measured at 10 kV, of the cross section of a gold-coated sample. It shows the hard coating prepared with the liquid coating syrup of the mixture of 40% w / w xylitol and 60% w / w erythritol. It is clearly seen that the hard coating has a lower adhesion to the base of the rubber. Figure 3 is an image of a scanning electron microscope, with an amplification of 3000x, measured at 10 kV, of the cross section of a gold-coated sample.

It shows that the hard coating prepared with the liquid coating syrup of the mixture of 60% w / w (based on the dry substance) of sorbitol and 40% w / w of erythritol, is homogeneous and there is a uniform distribution of the crystals of Erythritol and sorbitol. Figure 4 is an image of a scanning electron microscope with an amplification of 3000x, measured at 10 kV, of the cross section of a gold-coated sample. It shows that the hard coating, prepared according to the procedure described in EP 0813817, is heterogeneous and consists of large erythritol crystals in the sorbitol matrix.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to sugar-free hard coated food products consisting of a hard coating and a chewable and / or pharmaceutical edible core further characterized in that at least one layer of the hard coating comprises a mixture of sorbitol and erythritol., and wherein the dry substance of the mixture comprises between 1% and 50% w / w of erythritol. The present invention relates to edible products with sugar-free hard coating wherein the dry substance of the mixture comprises between 5% and 50% w / w of erythritol, preferably between 5% to 45% w / w, most preferably between 20% and 45% p / p of erythritol.

The present invention describes liquid coating syrups comprising mixtures of sorbitol and erythritol, wherein the dry substance of the mixture comprises between 1 and 50% w / w of erythritol, preferably between 5 and 45% w / w, most preferably between 20 and 45% w / w. and 45% w / w of erythritol. These coating syrups provide hard coating with crunching and cracking properties with a uniform smooth surface and good adhesion to the core. At least one layer of the hard coating comprises a mixture of sorbitol and erythritol, and this layer performs good adhesion to the core. Sorbitol is defined as the resulting hydrogenated product of dextrose or glucose syrups containing higher polyols, and sorbitol is applied in solid or liquid form. Erythritol can be obtained by a fermentation process or can also be obtained from a chemical process, such as the conversion of dialdehyde starch, tartaric esters or tartaric acids, and gives the same cooling effects as xylitol. In addition, erythritol does not contribute to tooth decay, does not provide a large amount of calories and does not cause stomach discomfort like other polyols. Erythritol is available as a non-hygroscopic crystalline powder. The present invention describes the preparation of edible products with hard coating, consisting of a hard coating and a chewable, edible and / or pharmaceutical core and wherein the hard coating has a good adhesion to the core. At least one layer is prepared from the liquid mixture of sorbitol and erythritol to obtain good adhesion to the core. This layer may be the first layer that is in direct contact with the core, and / or may be a layer that is close enough to the core to cause good adhesion to the core. The other layers may consist of single polyols. Preferably the sugarless coatings of the present invention are used to coat pharmaceutical tablets, chewing gums, candied products (such as candies), chocolates and nuts. When the present invention is applied for hard chewing gum coatings any center (core) of conventional chewing gum can be used. Preferably, the center contains no sugar and constitutes from about 35 to about 65% of the chewing gum product. Irregular rough surfaces produce liquid coating syrups that do not have any binder or film-forming agent, but which consist of a mixture of sorbitol and erythritol in which the dry substance of sorbitol in the mixture is less than 50% w / w. However, mixtures of sorbitol and erythritol in which the dry substance of sorbitol in the mixture is less than 50% w / w can give even regular surfaces when liquid coating syrups containing additional ingredients, such as binding agents or agents, are applied. film formers The best results are obtained with liquid coating syrups comprising mixtures wherein the dry substance of the mixture consists of 60% w / w sorbitol and 40% w / w erythritol. The composition of the liquid coating syrup is not limited to the mixture of sorbitol and erythritol, since it may additionally contain some other ingredients such as artificial sweeteners, dispersing agents, coloring agents, film formers, binding agents and / or flavoring agents. The coating syrup is initially present as a liquid syrup containing from about 30% to 80% or 85% dry substance consisting of the coating ingredients described hereinabove, and of about 15% or 20% by 70% of a solvent such as water. In general, the hard coating process is carried out on a rotating tray. The cores to be coated are placed inside the rotating tray to form a rotating mass. The liquid coating syrup that is applied comprises a mixture of sorbitol and erythritol, wherein the dry substance of the mixture consists of between 1% to 50% p / p erythritol. This material or syrup, which will form the hard coating, is applied or distributed over the cores and the air is dried. The drying air is in a temperature range of about 15 to 45 ° C and a moisture content of up to 50% relative humidity is applied. Each coating component on the core can be applied in a single hard layer or in a plurality of hard layers. In general a plurality of layers is obtained by applying coatings alone, allowing the layers to dry and subsequently repeating the process. Any number of coatings can be applied to the core. Coatings of 1 to 100 layers are easily obtained, preferably the number of layers is between 1 and 40. The optimum amount of layers will depend on the desired application and can be determined experimentally. The effectiveness of the hard coatings, prepared in accordance with the present invention is compared with the hard coating which is prepared from a liquid coating syrup containing erythritol and xylitol (example 3). The hard coating prepared from the liquid mixture of sorbitol and erythritol has a superior quality, since the adhesion to the rubber core is much better. Furthermore, in a comparative example the hard coating of the present invention is compared to the hard coating prepared according to the process as described in EP 0813817. The scanning electron microscope images (Figure 3 and Figure 4) clearly demonstrate that the different procedures give different products. The present invention is illustrated by the following examples.

EXAMPLE 1 Rotating tray conditions To prepare the liquid mixture of sorbitol / erythritol 60/40 (test 1), 11.2 kg of erythritol (C * Eridex 16952) were mixed with 16.8 kg of sorbitol (C * Sorbidex P16616) and 12 kg of water. The resulting mixture was stored at 60 ° C. The coating was carried out in a Driacoater pilot coater. 50 kg of cores, where the weight of the uncoated cores was 0.9 kg each, were rotated at 8 rpm and 0.6 kg of coating syrup was applied each time. The drying step was carried out with blown air in the lower part of the drying tray at 24 ° C. The additional applied rotating tray conditions are mentioned in table 1.

TABLE 1 Figure 1 clearly shows that the hard coating has a good adhesion to the core. Figure 3 (amplification of 3000) shows that the hard coating is homogeneous and has a uniform distribution.

EXAMPLE 2 Liquid mixtures were prepared with other sorbitol / erythritol ratios. Approximately 40 kg of the total liquid mixture was prepared and 50 kg of cores were rotated each time, where the uncoated core weight was 0.9 g each in a Driacoater pilot coater at 8 rpm. The other rotating tray conditions applied were mentioned in Table 1. The composition of the liquid mixture of sorbitol (S) and erythritol (E) for the coating syrup, its storage temperature and the resulting properties of the hard coating are mentioned in Table 2. The coating syrups, dispersants or film-forming agents were removed from the coating syrups and the resulting hard coatings were compared with the hard coating prepared in test 1 (example 1).

TABLE 2 EXAMPLE 3 Under a liquid mixture of erythritol and xylitol was prepared from 11.2 kg of xylitol and 16.8 kg of erythritol, 2 kg of gelatin (33%) and 11.2 kg of water. Everything is mixed and stored at 65 ° C. A Driacoater pilot coater was filled with 50 kg of cores, where the weight of the uncoated cores was 0.9 g each, and the liquid mixture was applied while spinning at 8 rpm. The additional conditions applied to the rotating tray procedure are mentioned in Table 3.

TABLE 3 The results obtained are shown in table 4.

TABLE 4 10 Figure 2 corresponds to the hard coating prepared in test 5. It is clearly demonstrated that the hard coating has less adhesion to the core. This is a clear contrast to the good adhesion of the hard coating prepared in accordance with test 1, which is shown in figure 1. Figure 3 corresponds to the hard coating prepared in test 1, and an amplification of 3000 is applied. that the hard coating prepared with the liquid coating syrup of the mixture of 60% w / w (based on the dry substance of the mixture) of sorbitol and 40% w / w of erythritol, is homogeneous and there is a uniform distribution . Élißlt_? Aa = ieÉ? Aat ^ i? I_ataa - * ^ - - Comparative example The procedure was repeated as described in EP 0813817. The coating solution was a sorbitol syrup with a dry substance of 70% and a sorbitol content of 97%. The syrup was applied to the cores at room temperature (20-25 ° C). 2 kg of cores were placed on a rotating tray (speed 20 rpm, diameter 0.5 m, speed at the outer circumference 1 m / s). For the first ten layers, 10 ml of sorbitol syrup was added. From layer twenty the amount was increased to 25 ml and from layer thirty-seven it was further increased to 35 ml. Each fifth layer, 1 minute after the addition of the sorbitol solution, 0.57% (based on the weight of the cores) of C * Eridex was added as a solid material. The coating process was stopped after 40 layers. Figure 4 corresponds to the hard coating prepared in accordance with this procedure. The hard coating is heterogeneous and consists of large erythritol crystals in the sorbitol matrix. This is completely different from the hard coating prepared in accordance with the present invention and is shown in Figure 3. at -__- ddh- & -a * -

Claims (6)

NOVELTY OF THE INVENTION CLAIMS

1. - Hard-coated food products without sugar consisting of a hard coating and an edible, chewable and / or pharmaceutical core, characterized in that at least one layer of the hard coating comprises a mixture of sorbitol and erythritol wherein the dry substance of the mixture it comprises between 1% and 50% w / w of erythritol.

2. The edible products with sugar-free hard coating according to claim 1, further characterized in that the dry substance of the mixture comprises between 5% and 50% w / w of erythritol, preferably between 5% and 45% w / w , very preferably between 20% and 45% w / w of erythritol.

3. The sugar-free hard-coated food products according to claim 1 or 2 further characterized in that the hard coating layer comprises a mixture of sorbitol and erythritol having good adhesion to the core.

4. The hard-coated food products without sugar according to any of claims 1 to 3 further characterized in that the hard coatings comprise binders, dispersing agents, film formers, coloring agents and / or flavoring agents.

5. - The sugar-free hard coated food products according to any of claims 1 to 4, further characterized in that the hard coating comprises from 1 to 100 layers.

6. The edible products with sugar-free hard coating according to claim 1 further characterized in that the core is chosen from the group consisting of pharmaceutical tablets, chewing gums, candied products, chocolate and walnut. A process for preparing edible products with sugar-free hard coating comprising the addition of a liquid coating syrup to the rotating mass of the cores in a rotating tray characterized in that the liquid coating syrup comprises a mixture of sorbitol and erythritol, wherein the dry substance of the mixture comprises between 1% and 50% w / w of erythritol. 8. The method according to claim 7, further characterized in that the application of the layers is repeated up to 100 times.