Coated delivery system for active components as part of an edible composition

1. A coated delivery system, comprising:

at least one encapsulated particle having a first coating material applied thereto;

wherein the at least one encapsulated particle comprises a mixture of an encapsulating material, at least one tensile strength modifying agent and at least one active component; wherein the encapsulating material is a polymer which is selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl acetate, crosslinked polyvinyl pyrrolidone, polylactic acid, polyhydroxyalkanoates, and combinations thereof; wherein the tensile strength modifying agent is a mixture of hydrogenated vegetable oil and a filler selected from the group consisting of talc, dicalcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, and combinations thereof, wherein the amount hydrogenated vegetable oil is from 1% to 5% by weight of the total coated delivery system; wherein the coated delivery system has a tensile strength of at least 10,000 psi; and wherein the first coating material is selected from the group consisting of gum Arabic, cellulose, modified cellulose, gelatin, polyol, cyclodextrin, zein, polyvinyl alcohol, polymethylmethacrylate and polyurethane and mixtures thereof.

2. The coated delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the first coating material is present in an amount of about 20 wt % to about 50 wt % of the total weight of the coated delivery system.

3. The coating delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the first coating material is a hydrophilic material.

4. The delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the first coating material completely coats the at least one encapsulated particle.

5. The coated delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the first coating material is present on the surface of the at least one encapsulated particle at a thickness of from 1 to 200 μm.

6. The coated delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the active component is selected from the group consisting of a sweetener, an acid, a flavorant, a pharmaceutical, a therapeutic agent, a vitamin, a mineral, a breath freshener, a tooth whitener, a tooth cleaner, a warming agent, a sensate, a cooling agent and combinations thereof.

7. The coated delivery system of claim 6 , wherein the active component is at least one sweetener and is a high intensity sweetener.

8. The coated delivery system of claim 6 , wherein the active component is a sweetener selected from the group consisting of an amino acid based sweetener, a dipeptide sweetener, glycyrrhizin, saccharin, a saccharin salt, an acesulfame salt, a cyclamate, a stevioside, talin, a dihydrochalone compound, a chlorinated sucrose, and combinations thereof.

9. The coated delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the at least one active component is coated with a second coating material before being encapsulated with the encapsulated material.

10. An edible composition comprising at least one coated delivery system as claimed in claim 1 , and at least one additional edible ingredient.

11. The edible composition of claim 10 , which is a chewing gum.

12. A method of manufacturing the edible composition of claim 10 comprising mixing the coated delivery system with at least one additional ingredient of the edible composition.

13. A method of manufacturing the coated delivery system of claim 1 , comprising

mixing the encapsulating material, the at least one tensile strength

modifying agent, and the at least one active component to obtain a mixed material;

grinding the mixed material to obtain at least one encapsulated particle; and

coating the at least encapsulated one particle with a first coating material.

14. A method of manufacturing the coated delivery system of claim 9 , comprising

coating the at least one active component with a second coating material to form a coated active component,

mixing the encapsulating material, the at least one tensile strength modifying agent and the at least one coated active component to obtain a mixed material;

grinding the mixed material to obtain at least one particle; and

coating the at least one particle with a first coating material, which is the same or different from the second coating material used to coat the at least one active component.

15. The coated delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the encapsulating material has a water-retention value of up to about 5% as measured according to ASTM D570-98.

16. The coated delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the encapsulating material has a water-retention value of up to about 15%.

17. The coated delivery system of claim 1 , wherein the encapsulating material has a water-retention value of up to about 50%.

18. The coated delivery system of claim 10 wherein the second coating

material is selected from the group consisting of gum Arabic, cellulose, modified cellulose, gelatin, polyol, cyclodextrin, zein, polyvinyl alcohol, and mixtures thereof.