Is It Kosher?
By Rabbi Eliezer Eidlitz — a comprehensive guide to the kosher status of hundreds of common foods, ingredients, and food categories.
Chewing Gum
In 1939, when the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act was passed, chewing gum was classified as a food — and rightly so. Approximately two-thirds of a stick of gum is swallowed and enters the digestive tract. Chewing gum manufacturers managed to secure an exemption from labeling requirements because it is impractical to list 25 ingredients on a package as small as the one that gum comes in.
As many as 15 natural and synthetic ingredients are lumped together as "gum base." The typical gum wrapper ingredient listing reads: "Made of gum base, sugar, corn syrups, flavor, and softeners." Only two of the more than 40 actual ingredients are recognizable. Of special kashrus concern are the stearate ingredients — sodium stearate and potassium stearate — which are usually animal derivatives.
The kosher consumer cannot tell what ingredients go into the gum from the wrapper. The only reliable rule is to avoid gums that are not known to be kosher.
The FDA requirements for chewing gum permit many synthetic and natural masticatory substances, plasticizers, and antioxidants, many of which are derived from animal sources including lanolin. Any gum without reliable kosher supervision should be avoided.