EP4124266A1

EP4124266A1 - Drinking straw and beverage container

Info

Publication number: EP4124266A1
Application number: EP21187946.5A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Erhard Schwartz
Original assignee: Capri Sun AG
Current assignee: Capri Sun AG
Priority date: 2021-07-27
Filing date: 2021-07-27
Publication date: 2023-02-01

Abstract

The invention refers to a drinking straw based on a fibrous material such as paper wherein the drinking straw comprises one or more flavoring agents with a repelling taste. The invention further refers to a beverage container comprising such a drinking straw.

Description

The present invention refers to a drinking straw based on fibrous materials such as paper and to a beverage container with such a drinking straw.
Drinking straws based on fibrous materials such as paper are known in the art. They can be provided with a beveled tip which helps to open a beverage container by perforating the container. Such drinking straws are also known without a beveled tip.
The drinking straws based on fibrous materials such as paper have the disadvantage that they can be disintegrated by the user e.g. by chewing a portion such as an end of the drinking straw such that the portion of the drinking straw is separated from the remainder and can then be swallowed or inhaled by a user.
In order to solve the above problem, a drinking straw according to claim 1 is provided and a beverage container according to claim 10.
The drinking straw comprises one of more flavoring agents with a repelling taste.
In order to prevent the user from nibbling off or chewing a portion of the drinking straw and thereby disintegrating this drinking straw the flavoring agent can be or comprise a bitter-tasting agent. The flavoring agent may also be or comprise a hot-tasting agent.
The flavoring agent being or comprising a bitter-tasting or a hot-tasting agent means it being a flavoring agent with a repelling taste. A flavoring agent with a repelling taste is given by a flavoring agent being or comprising a bitter-tasting agent and/or being or comprising a hot-tasting agent.
A bitter tasting agent is one that is capable of activating TAS2R-Receptors on the tongue of a user. This receptor is responsible for the creation of a taste commonly described as a bitter taste.
The bitterness of an agent can be characterized by a standardized pharmaceutical method such as described in the "European Pharmacopoeia" e.g. in its 10th edition. According thereto the bitterness is expressed by the factor of its dilution that still allows it to be recognized as bitter. E.g. Chininhydrochlorid is having a bitterness value of 200,000 and Absinthin of 3,000,000. The later means that it can be diluted by a factor of 3,000,000 and still can be recognized as bitter.
The bitterness of the flavoring agent used in this invention can be of more than 1,000, or more than 5,000, 10,000, 50,000, 100,000, 500,000, 1,000,000, 5,000,000, 10.000,000, 50,000,000 or 100,000,000. An example for the latter is denatonium benzoat, which has a bitterness of more than 100,000,000.
Additionally or alternatively, the flavoring agent may have or comprise a hot tasting agent. A hot taste is related to the stimulus of the heat and/or pain receptor in the mouth of a user.
The rating of hotness of an agent, in general will also be specified by the factor of dilution up the taste still being recognizable as hot. The methodology for determining this rating is the same as the one described in the European Pharmacopoeia mentioned above for bitterness.
The Scoville rating provides a measure for the hotness of an agent (also called spiciness or pungency). The Scoville rating is also given by the amount of dilution until the diluted product is not recognized as hot anymore. For agents containing capsaicinoids the Scoville rating can be determined by the concentration of capsaicinoids. Pure capsaicin, which is a capsaicinoid, is having a Scoville rating of 16,000,000.
The hot tasting agent may have a rating of hotness (e.g. the Scoville rating) of at least 1,000, 5,000, 10,000, 100,000, 1,000,000 or 10,000,000.
Further, the flavoring agent has to be harmless to human beings in the dose provided in the straw i.e. not have a negative impact on its health, apart from any effect caused by the repellent taste.
The hot tasting agent may be or comprise a capsaicinoid or capsaicin. It may be also be or compromise other hot tasting substances like piperine (e.g. from black pepper), gingerol (e.g. from ginger root) or allyl isothiocyanate (e.g. from horseradish).
The repellant taste may also be given by a taste that is recognized as astringent or metallic.
An example of an agent recognized as having an astringent taste is tannic acid, or gallic acid such as 3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid. Oxalates known from rhubarb, spinach or buckwheat are also known for their astringent taste and can be used as the flavoring agent.
An example of an agent that is recognized as metallic is hemoglobin or any metal, metal alloy or oxides or salts thereof such as iron/iron containing alloys, copper/copper containing alloys or brass, or oxides or salts thereof. The metal can be provided as particles (such as microencapsulated particles) as explained further below.
The rating of the agent having the astringent taste or of the metallic taste is defined as for the bitterness above ("European Pharmacopoeia" e.g. in its 10th edition).
The rating should be above 1,000 as well.
In general, the flavoring agent with a repelling taste should be one with a rating as defined above for the bitterness above ("European Pharmacopoeia" e.g. in its 10th edition) of more than 1.000 or more than 5,000, 10,000, 50,000, 100,000, 500,000, 1,000,000, 5,000,000, 10.000,000, 50,000,000 or 100,000,000. This general rating means that by a dilution of the flavoring agent by a factor as indicated by the rating, the repellent taste is just still recognizable but beyond that dilution it is not recognizable as the repellent taste any longer.
A possible flavoring agent that has a bitter taste can be e.g. denatonium (available as denatonium benzoate or denatonium saccharide), a synthetic substance with the most bitter taste known so far, amarogentin as the most bitter natural substance known (e.g. from gentian root), columbin (e.g. from calumba resp. jateorhiza palmata), quassin (e.g. from bitter-wood resp. quassia amara), absinthin (e.g. from wormwood resp. artemisia absinthium), quinine (e.g. from cinchona calisaya), hops (or extracts thereof) or momordica charantia (known as e.g. bitter melon) (or extracts thereof).
In case of plants as a source not only the pure isolated effective substance can be used but also a suitable plant extract.
The flavoring agent is preferably provided in such a way that it does not release into saliva from a user or into a beverage that is passed through the drinking straw or in contact with the drinking straw inside a beverage container by mere contact but only leaves the drinking straw when the drinking straw is chewed upon or the drinking straw is otherwise mechanically treated such as mechanically impaired, altered or damaged. This may lead to the effect that if a user, unconscious of disintegrating the drinking straw, starts to recognize a repellent taste stops taking the drinking straw into his/her mouth. Thereby the user can be prevented from finding himself or herself with a portion of the drinking straw that may provide hazardous to him/her.
This may be relevant in particular for small children e.g. below the age of 3 years, between the age of 3 and 6 years or above the age of 6 years.
The flavoring agent is preferably provided in or on one or more of the layers of the fibrous material such as in and/or on one of more of paper layers. Thereby it is possible to provide the flavoring agent at a location where its release from the drinking straw can be made dependent on the mechanical treatment of the drinking straw. If, for example, it is provided on an internal layer or inside of an internal layer the release of the flavoring agent can be retarded and only takes place if the drinking straw is mechanically damaged such as about to be disintegrated.
It is possible to provide the flavoring agent in an adhesive such as inside of an adhesive layer that glues together two layers of the fibrous material. This also allows to control the release of the flavoring agent.
The flavoring agent can also alternatively or additionally be provided onto an outer surface of the drinking straw. It can be applied e.g. by spraying the flavoring agent onto the drinking straw (partially or totally), by dipping the drinking straw (partially or totally) into the flavoring agent or by coating the drinking straw (partially or totally) with the flavoring agent. In case the flavoring agent is provided on the outside of the drinking straw it is preferable that the flavoring agent is encapsulated such that it is not released immediately upon contact with the saliva of a user.
The flavoring agent may be in a liquid state when provided to the drinking straw. It may be a homogeneous liquid, it may be a suspension of solid matter (such as a powder) in liquid or it may be an emulsion of two different liquids that do not dissolve into each other. The emulsion may contain an emulsifier. Any liquid phase of the flavoring agent may be a dilution of some compound into a solvent. The solvent may contain or be water, oil or an alcohol (such as ethanol). It may be a solvent that evaporates once it is applied to the drinking straw.
It is possible that the flavoring agent is provided in encapsulated form protected by a protective cover. It can for example be provided in a microencapsulated form. Such covers can comprise e.g. ethyl cellulose, polyvinyl alcohol, gelatin or sodium algina. Such a protective cover can be designed in order to control the release of the flavoring agent. This allows for example for the flavoring agent only being released when the protective cover is mechanically disrupted. This allows to release a flavoring e.g. agent only after a user is chewing on the drinking straw.
The flavoring agent can, for example, be provided in a microencapsulated form. The flavoring agent is protected by a cover as mentioned and the cover has an outer size of not more than 0.5 mm or 0.1 mm. It can be provided as a sphere with a diameter of not more than 0.5 mm or 0.1 mm or it may have a (regular or irregular) shape that does fit into a sphere with a diameter of not more than 0.5 mm or 0.1 mm. Such flavoring agent in the micro encapsulated form may also be considered as a form of the flavoring agent being a particulate matter.
The flavoring agent may be a natural flavoring agent, a flavor agent identical to a natural flavor agent or an artificial flavoring agent.
The flavoring agent may be provided as a particulate matter wherein preferably the flavoring agent is encapsulated. More than 1,000 or more than 10,000 or even more particles of or with or containing the flavoring agent can be provided in a drinking straw. The particulate matter preferably encapsulates the flavoring agent which allows to control the release of the flavoring agent. The particulate matter may also be a flavoring agent that is not encapsulated. The particulate matter is optionally provided in an adhesive and/or in and/or on one or more layers of the fibrous material. The place where the particulate matter is provided provides for an additional method to control the release and make it dependent on the mechanical treatment of the drinking straw as explained above.
The flavoring agent can be provided only in a portion of the drinking straw. Thereby less of the flavoring agent is to be used and it can be provided only at a place where it is efficient. This can for example be the end of the drinking straw that is provided for being taken into the mouth of the user. Starting from that end, the flavoring agent can be provided in the vicinity of that end and can extend up to more or less than 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 cm along the length of the drinking straw towards the opposite end of the drinking straw. This opposite end may be provided with a beveled tip.
Optionally, the opposite end of the one that is supposed to be taken into the mouth of a user, e.g. the one with a beveled tip and the vicinity thereof, which extends from the end up to 1, 2, 3 or 4 cm along the length of the drinking straw is not provided with the flavoring agent. As the tip may be mechanically stressed or damaged during puncturing a beverage container, a flavoring agent may be released unintentionally, which is not desired. Further as the end to be provided inside the container such as the end with the tip and its vicinity is typically provided inside of the beverage, once the drinking straw is inserted into the container, this end of the paper drinking straw may soften and thereby may facilitate an undesired release of the flavoring agent to the beverage and finally to the user.
Embodiments of the drinking straw are explained for a better understanding in the follow figures. Here it is shown:

Figure 1a, 1b: a beverage container which has been perforated with a drinking straw
Figure 2: a cross-section of a drinking straw perpendicular to its longitudinal axis
Figure 3: a step of winding a paper layer onto a winding mandrel
Figure 4: a drinking straw where the flavoring agent is only provided in a portion of the drinking straw
Figure 5: a drinking straw with a capsule
Figure 6: different ways of providing a flavoring agent in or on paper layers or in an adhesive.

In Figure 1a, a beverage container 1 is shown which has been perforated with a drinking straw 4 through a perforation opening 2. The lower end of the drinking straw 4 has a beveled tip. The opposite end 3 is supposed to be taken into the mouth of a user in order to empty the beverage container 1.
The beverage container 1 in Figure 1a can be for example made of a material that comprises cardboard.
In Figure 1b, a Beverage container 10 is shown which has been perforated with the drinking straw 14. Beverage container 10 comprises a foil bag 13 which is provided with a perforation opening 11. The drinking straw 14 has a beveled tip at its lower end with which the perforation opening 11 can be perforated. The end 12 of the drinking straw 14 opposite to the end with the beveled tip is supposed to be taken into the mouth by the user in order to empty the foil bag 13.
The drinking straw 4, 14 can be provided on the outside of the beverage container 1, 10 prior to perforating it e.g. by being provided with an adhesive on the outside of the container 1, 10, preferably while being provided in a protective covering such as a hermetically closed covering.
Figure 2 shows a cross-section of a drinking straw 20 (which can be the drinking straw 4 or 14 of Figure 1) the cross-section being taken perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the drinking straw 20. The inside of the drinking straw is indicated by reference sign 28 which provides a passage for a beverage. The outer surface of the drinking straw 20 is marked by reference sign 21. This outer surface 21 is provided by the outer surface of the outer paper layer 22. This outer paper layer 22 is provided by an adhesive 23 on the outer side of middle paper layer 24. This middle paper layer 24 is provided with an adhesive 25 to the outside of an inner paper layer 26. The inner surface 27 of the paper layer 26 provides the inside 28 of the drinking straw.
In Figure 2 a drinking straw 20 made of three paper layers and two adhesive layers is shown. A drinking straw may however also be made of only one paper layer or of two paper layers which are glued together with one layer of adhesive.
Also more than three paper layers or just four or five paper layers can be provided which preferably are glued to their neighboring paper layers.
As the flavoring agent is to be released only after mechanical damage to the drinking straw, the flavoring agent is preferably provided on a surface of a paper layer that is inside of the drinking straw such as on the surface of the outer paper layer 22 that faces the middle paper layer 23 and/or on the surface of the middle paper layer 23 or on the surface on the inner paper layer 26 that faces towards the middle paper layer 23.
The flavoring agent may also be provided inside of the adhesive as both the adhesive layers are covered by another pair of paper layers. This prevents the flavoring agent from being released to early after contact of saliva and or beverage to the drinking straw and allows for a controlled release thereof e.g. only after mechanically damaging the paper layers.
In Figure 3, the paper web 31 is shown which is rolled onto a winding mandrel 30. The web 31 is thereby provided as a layer 32 on the mandrel which allows for subsequently winding different layers onto each other and thereby creating a drinking straw as show in Figure 2. An adhesive may be provided on one or two surfaces of the paper web 31 prior to rolling it onto the mandrel. The adhesive (with or without a flavoring agent) may be rolled or sprayed onto such a paper web.
An adhesive with a flavoring agent or the flavoring agent may also be provided only to a portion or portions of the paper web 31 such that portions of the resulting drinking straw are free of the flavoring agent. An adhesive with the flavoring agent or the flavoring agent may e.g. be provided in one or more stripe portions along the length of the paper web and/or in an intermittent manner onto patches onto the paper web.
In any case one or both entire surfaces of the web can be provided with an adhesive without the flavoring agent.
In Figure 4, a drinking straw 40 is shown which may be the drinking straw 4, 14 or 20 as discussed above. The drinking straw 40 has a beveled tip 41. The end opposite to that one of the beveled tip 41 is provided with a zone 42 in which the flavoring agent is provided only. The flavoring agent is not provided outside of the zone 42. The zone 42 extends e.g. starting at the left end of the drinking straw 40 in Figure 4 and extends up to a distance 43 into a direction along the longitudinal axis 44 of the drinking straw 42 towards the end with the beveled tip 41 but not up to the end with the tip 41.
The drinking straw may also be provided without a beveled tip 41 and have two flat ends (each end having an end perpendicular to the longitudinal axis 44 of the drinking straw 40).
The distance 43 may be up to or less than 1 cm, 2 cm, 3 cm, 4 cm, 5 cm, 6 cm, 6.5 cm or 7 cm. Thereby the range which runs the risk of being chewed off by the user is provided with the flavoring agent and other areas which are typically not chewed on by the user do not need to be provided with a flavoring agent. This prevents an undesired release of the flavoring agent by e.g. the tip of the drinking straw being mechanically damaged and/or by a softening of the paper drinking straw inside the beverage container.
It is however also possible to provide the flavoring agent along the full length of the drinking straw 40, i.e. up to and including both ends of the drinking straw 40.
Also inside the zone 42 there may also be areas which are not provided with a flavoring agent. The flavoring agent can e.g. be provided in stripes that start at the left end of the drinking straw 40 and extend up to the (right hand side) end of the zone 42, but with the stripes being separated between them by an area without the flavoring agent.
In Figure 5, a version of the drinking straw 50 is shown which may be the drinking straw of Figure 1 or Figure 2. Here the flavoring agent is provided in a capsule 54 which is provided at or close to the (left) end of the drinking straw in Figure 5. Opposite to that (left) end is another end of the drinking straw which is provided with a beveled tip 51. This second end may also be provided without a beveled tip.
The capsule 54 can be provided in the form of a sleeve which surrounds the passage through which a liquid may be passed through the drinking straw 50. The (left) end of the drinking straw 50 shown in Figure 5 is the end that is supposed to be taken into the mouth by a user. The sleeve 54 may encapsulate the flavoring agent. It may be provided by a paper sleeve that is e.g. impregnated with a flavoring agent. A paper sleeve may be encapsulated with a lacquer or any other material which encapsulates the flavoring agent inside of the material of the sleeve. The sleeve 54 is then covered by two or more paper layers 50, 53 which for example fully surround and encapsulate the capsule 54.The capsule 54 may also only be covered on the outside or the inside of the sleeve with a paper layer (or a combination of several paper layers).
As can be seen on the left end, the capsule 54 does not reach up to the end of the drinking straw 50 such that the paper layers 52, 53, which surround the capsule 54, can come into contact with other.
It is however also possible to provide the capsule 54 up to the very left end of the drinking straw.
The capsule 54 extends along a certain length of the drinking straw 50. This length may start at the very left end of the drinking straw and extend a certain length into the direction towards the beveled tip 51. Its length may be up to or less than 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6.5 or 7 cm. The remainder of the drinking straw along the length of it is not provided with the capsule 54.
In Figure 6, different ways are shown how the flavoring agent is provided as a particulate matter or as a compound or as an agent.
The particles 61 are provided on a surface of the paper layer 60 as shown in Figure 6a. The paper layer 60 may be the paper layer 22 or 24 or 26 or 31 of Figure 2 or 3 or paper layer 52 or 53 of Figure 5. If an adhesive is added to that surface the particles 61 are provided at the interface between the paper layer 60 and the adhesive. The adhesive may stick the particles 61 to the paper layer 60 and/or surround the particles 61 that are provided on the surface of the paper layer 60.
In Figure 6b, it is shown that the particles 61 may also be provided inside of the paper layer 60. The fibers of the paper are indicated by the undulating lines in Figure 6b. While in Figure 6b the particles are provided inside and embedded into the fibers 62 they may additionally also be provided on the outside of the paper layer as shown in Figure 6a.
In Figure 6c two paper layers 60, 63 are shown, each of which having fibers indicated by reference signs 62 and 64. The two paper layers are glued together with an adhesive 65. Embedded into this glue 65 are particles of the flavoring agent 66.
The particles shown in Figure 6a, b and c may themselves provide an encapsulation of a flavoring agent (e.g. in a microencapsulated form).
Instead of providing a flavoring agent as a particulate matter and providing them on the surface of a paper layer (Figure 6a), inside a paper layer (Figure 6b), or inside of an adhesive (Figure 6c) the flavoring agent may also be provided as a liquid or as a dried liquid such a coating or the like. It may be dissolved in or added to an adhesive 65 and may be soaked into the fibers 62, 64 of a paper layer. The particulate matter may be provided as a suspension with solid particles in a liquid or as an emulsion with a liquid. The liquid may contain or be water or an oil or another solvent.
(Thereby,) the flavoring agent may be provided onto the surface of a paper layer (such as one shown in Fig. 6a) and/or inside a paper layer such as one shown in Fig. 6 b) and/or inside an adhesive layer such as one shown in Fig. 6c) even if not provided as a particulate matter.
The flavoring agent may also be provided on the outside of the drinking straw but then is preferably protected by a covering such as in a microencapsulated form. It can be provided on the inner surface 27 or on the outer surface 21 as shown in Fig. 2. Providing it in the inner surface 27 has the advantage that it may only be released when mechanical damage occurs to the inner surface 27.
In general, the flavoring agent may be provided in one or more of the following forms:

as a powder,
as particles, such as in a microencapsulated form, such as e.g. metal particles that are encapsulated,
as a coating,
an agent absorbed by the fibers of the fibrous material,
a cristallized material
a dried material (e.g. a dried coating)
a liquid
in a capsule or
encapsulated into a protective covering.

Claims

Drinking straw (4, 14, 20, 40, 50) based on a fibrous material such as paper, characterized in that the drinking straw comprises one or more flavoring agents with a repelling taste.
Drinking straw according to claim 1, characterized in that the flavoring agent is or comprises a bitter-tasting agent, which optionally has a bitterness value of more than 1,000.
Drinking straw according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the flavoring agent is or comprises a hot tasting-agent, which optionally has a Scoville rating of more than 1,000.
Drinking straw according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the flavoring agent is provided in and/or on one or more of the layers of the fibrous material, such as in and/or on one or more of paper layers (22, 24, 26, 32, 52, 53, 60).
Drinking straw according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the flavoring agent is provided in an adhesive (23, 25, 65) that glues together layers of the fibrous material (22, 24, 26, 32, 52, 53, 60).
Drinking straw according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the flavoring agent is encapsulated into a protective cover.
Drinking straw according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the flavoring agent is provided as a particulate matter (61), which optionally encapsulates the flavoring agent, wherein optionally the particulate matter (61) is provided in an adhesive (65) and/or in and/or on one or more layers (60) of the fibrous material.
Drinking straw according to one or more of the preceding claims, characterized in that the flavoring agent is provided only in a portion (42) of the drinking straw, optionally at and/or in the vicinity of the end that is provided for being taken into the mouth of a user.
Drinking straw according to the preceding claim, characterized in that the flavoring agent is provided extending (43) from an/the end of the drinking straw up to at least or more than 1 cm, 2 cm, 3 cm, 4 cm 5 cm, 6 cm, 6,5 cm or 7 cm.
Beverage container (1, 10) with a drinking straw (4, 14, 20, 40, 50) according to any of the preceding claims.