Beschreibung:
<jats:sec><jats:title>ABSTRACT</jats:title><jats:p><jats:italic>The present work studied the effect of the addition of sodium lactate and of storage conditions on the stability of chewing gums. A full factorial experimental design 2<jats:sup>4</jats:sup> was used to investigate the effect of the concentration of citric and lactic acid in the formulation and the use of sodium lactate as buffering agent, as well as the change in relative humidity (RH) of storage. The chewing gum was stored for 180 days only with the individual packing. The samples were periodically assayed for pH, moisture, mass gain, water activity, concentration of sugars (glucose, fructose and sucrose), total reducing sugar and visual aspect of the product. The most expressive change was observed in the condition of highest RH (80%), where the samples became sticky after the 90th day of storage. During storage at 30% RH, the product became gradually harder, making chewing more difficult. An expressive acceleration of cold melt and glucose and fructose concentration was verified in the samples elaborated with 1% of citric acid, without addition of sodium lactate and in the samples elaborated with 0.8% of lactic acid, 0.2% of citric acid and without addition of sodium lactate. This latter was already sticky after 60 days of storage. The addition of sodium lactate (1.08% dry basis) to the formulation favored stability of the product, as well as the use of lactic acid, instead of citric acid.</jats:italic></jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS</jats:title><jats:p>The challenges of the confectionery industry are quite expressive, since the consumers' demand for quality and novelty is constantly increasing, rising the need to guarantee the quality and the stability of the products. The most frequent problems are related to very soft gums that stick to the packing film or very hard gums that are difficult to chew. One of the factors that contribute to these problems is the different climatic situations to which the products may be submitted and sugar inversion during storage of the product. The frequent need for improvement of the candy industry, allied with the lack of researches that involve the evaluation of chewing gum stability, motivates this study, which aimed at investigating the factors that interfere in the stability of chewing gums.</jats:p></jats:sec>