Patent ID: 8591972

Claim:
A delivery system having a preselected desired release profile of at least one active component and suitable for incorporation into an edible composition comprising at least one active component fully coated with at least one coating material, and said coated active component further fully coated with at least one encapsulating material and least one tensile strength modifying agent to form said delivery system; wherein the at least one coating material is selected from the group consisting of gum Arabic, cellulose, modified cellulose, gelatin, polyol, cyclodextrin, zein, polyvinyl alcohol, and mixtures thereof, wherein the coating material is less miscible with the encapsulating material relative to the miscibility of the active component with the encapsulating material, and, wherein the coating material provides a coating thickness of from about 1 micron to about 200 microns between the at least one active component and the encapsulating material; wherein the at least one encapsulating material is a polymer which is selected from the group consisting of polyvinyl acetate, crosslinked polyvinyl pyrrolidone, polylactic acid, polyhydroxyalkanoates, and combinations thereof and wherein the encapsulating material is present in an amount of from about 30% to 99% by weight based on the total weight of the delivery system; wherein the at least one tensile strength modifying agent is selected from the group consisting of hydrogenated vegetable oil, talc, dicalcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, and combinations thereof and wherein the tensile strength modifying agent is present in an amount of from about 1% to 40% by weight based on the total weight of the delivery system; wherein the delivery system provides a desired release profile of the at least one active component by the combination of (1) adding a preselected amount of at least one tensile strength modifying agent in a range from 1% to 40% by weight of the total weight of the delivery system and (2) employing an encapsulating material having a preselected hydrophobicity having a water absorption from about 5% to about 50% as measured in accordance to ASTM D570-98 thereby obtaining an overall tensile strength of the delivery system that corresponds to the preselected desired release profile of the at least one active component, and wherein the delivery system has a tensile strength of at least 10,000 psi.