Just a little over a year ago I wrote a quick article about the announcement of Stride Gum by Cadbury-Adams. On January 9. 2007 we had our 12th comment on that article and the first one that mentioned eating the wrapper:
Can you eat the Stride bubble gum wrapper? Someone is telling people that it is edible…Is it?
Chew the wrapper? Where did this come from? I know you can eat the inner rice paper wrapper of Botan Rice Candy, but chew the wrapper of a gum? I dismissed it as the ravings of a lunatic Candy Addict, but then we kept getting more and more comments sparking a debate on the chewableness of the wrappers. We currently have 64 comments on that article – most of them dealing with whether or not you can chew the wrapper.
I did some poking around and there are many instances online of people either saying you can chew the wrapper or people asking if it’s true. At the time of this writing, even the Stride Gum wikipedia page says the wrappers are made of rice paper and can be eaten.
So, I finally decided to do something about this. I contacted Cadbury-Adams, the makers of Stride, to get to the bottom of this. I posed one simple question: “Are Stride Gum wrappers intended to be chewed?” This is the official response I received:
While Stride(r) gum is designed to be chewed for a ridiculously long time, our gum wrappers are not. All of our gum wrappers are made with materials that comply with FDA regulations for food contact materials; however, none of our chewing gum wrappers are designed to be ingested. While there’s nothing toxic in them, gum wrappers aren’t intended for ingestion and gum wrappers should not be eaten. Should you have any questions or concerns about your children ingesting gum wrappers, please contact your doctor or other health care professional.
(note that the above official statement goes for all of Cadbury-Adams gums – not just Stride)
So, there you go. Myth debunked. Can you chew the Stride gum wrappers? Yes – just like you could eat/chew any piece of paper (though it’s not recommended). Should you chew the Stride Gum wrapper? The official word says no. The wrapper is not intended to be chewed or eaten and will not add anything good to the gum (though it won’t hurt you). Just enjoy the gum as they intended it – wrapper-free!
Wikipedia has now been changed!
June 19th, 2007 at 11:51 amThat reminds me of Zebra Stripes gum – we used to chew the whole stick – wrapper and all when we were kids.
June 19th, 2007 at 12:26 pmWhen I was a kid (early 80s-ish), it was Trident gum that everyone “knew” had an edible wrapper. I tried it once or twice and quickly learned that paper is not so much yummy compared to gum itself.
June 19th, 2007 at 1:36 pmThis is neat because you are now linked in Wikipedia!
RESPONSE: It\’s not the first time. Candy Addict has a few links in Wikipedia :)
June 20th, 2007 at 12:24 am–Brian
So has there ever been a stick of gum that was made with edible wrapper, and intended to be chewed that way?
June 20th, 2007 at 1:42 ami luv u guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
June 22nd, 2007 at 6:02 pmit works when u chew the gum w/ the wraper on it just dissolves…
June 22nd, 2007 at 9:58 pmThanks-that helps me alot!
June 23rd, 2007 at 5:06 pmi just saw that thing, so.. having some stride gum already {lol} i tried it. and after not too long you really dont notice the wrapper. it pretty much disappears. chew the gum, wrapper and all. its kinda cool. jesus out!
June 24th, 2007 at 9:48 pmWhat about the box? Can you eat the box? Please help me.
RESPONSE: LOL!
June 29th, 2007 at 5:13 pmI love stride gum it is awesomely super duper amazing
July 1st, 2007 at 2:08 pmI LOVE FOREVER FRUIT!
July 5th, 2007 at 1:08 amThere are some packing peanuts you can eat….try to find a load of peanuts made from cornstarch. Pop the suckers in your mouth and they dissolve. (People can’t help but watch you do this, for reasons I’ve never been able to figure out.)
July 7th, 2007 at 7:14 pmlol my friend like started chomping on the wrrapper of the gum when I handed her a pece. I was like “eww! Megan, what are you doing?” She then told me that the wrapper was edible, so i tried it… it disapperd in a bit, but I still kinda didn’t belive her. LOL that is why I am here.
July 13th, 2007 at 4:52 pmi love candy im basically addicted to gum!
July 16th, 2007 at 9:14 pmthe wrapper of stride makes it all chunky. I am chewing a piece of the new flavor now. Wrapperless. It kindof ruins it i guess. But its fun.
July 30th, 2007 at 1:48 pmThank God for this website. A lady at work had us all eating the wrapper. I have since passed this information onto her and she has stopped telling people it is ok to eat the wrapper.
August 8th, 2007 at 11:05 ami eat the wrapper and love it. SO EAT THAT!
August 13th, 2007 at 11:49 amI think that when you chew the gum and the wrapper together. The wrapper just gets mixed into the gum and then everyone thinks it has dissovled when it actually hasn’t. The wrapper is still there and it gives the gum a more thick texture.
August 13th, 2007 at 12:49 pmThis site is great, and TOTALLY accurate. I called the Cadbury Adams customer service and asked, “Can you eat the Stride gum wrappers?” The lady simply said, “No, you cannot.” I welcome you all to call if your friends do not believe you and have them call as well. The number is 1-800-524-2854.
August 20th, 2007 at 12:29 pmhey can u eat stride gum wrappers?? bc like idk ly bye
August 30th, 2007 at 11:20 amDude do you sawllow gum? no! is it recommended to swallow gum? most certainly not! CHEW THE WRAPPER! this now brings adventure, spontenatey, and fun into gum! by the way you cal also chew the wrapper for orbit but stride is the TRUTH!
September 2nd, 2007 at 6:46 pmwell I think that the whole stride wrapper deal was pretty funny. I had heard about it on the news and I told all my friends that the stride gum wrappers were edible and most of them decided to investigate the matter and ate the gum wrapper and all. Recently, me and a few of my friends were debating on the fact that the wrappers were edible and decided to research it. When we read this article we were shocked because we had informed half the people in our high school that they could eat the wrapper and the news spread like wildfire. Now, with the new information I have obtained, I will now have to spread the word about the wrappers being edible but not being recommened for ingestion. Thank you for posting the article answering the question to this infamous myth.
September 11th, 2007 at 8:59 pm~Sincerly, $up3rG!rL
One of my friends at school told me that if u eat the wrapper with the gum, it tastes better. So, about 10 minutes i put a piece of stride gum in my mouth with the wrapper to try it. after about 30 seconds, i could still see the wrapper so i decided to research it and this is the second site in a row i found that tells you not to eat the wrapper. (it does make it a lot darker color though!!!)
September 15th, 2007 at 3:18 pmi just wrote the last reply and i put the gum in about 10 minutes ago-i guess next time i should read my comment before i submit it LOL!!!
September 15th, 2007 at 3:21 pmi have tried eating stride gum with the wrapper and if anything, i think it makes it lose flavor-not add any
September 15th, 2007 at 3:24 pmHah,I chew the gum with the wrapper and all.It just disolves after a couple minutes,but it makes the gum turn a darker,more vibrant color(cool!).Its not unhealthy,and its funny to watch the looks you get from other people when you just pop the whole thing into your mouth.
:D
So,lets all unite and CHEW THOSE WRAPPERS!
Happy chewing!
September 15th, 2007 at 6:22 pmHaha.. me and my friend just had some srtide w/ the wrapper and then my mom said that u rnt suposed to eat the wrapper w/ it so i got on google 2 c and haha me and my friend laughed!=]
-TeeHeeing friends-
September 30th, 2007 at 5:39 pmKatie and abby
HAHA #18 that is funny!!
-katie/abby
September 30th, 2007 at 5:40 pmIT RULES YEAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
October 5th, 2007 at 1:19 pmWhy are the good people from Stride discouraging us from chewing or eating the wrapper!? If we want to chew the gum with the wrapper, it should be our choice.
Why not embrace the desire of the masses, instead of dictating how we should enjoy their product?
October 8th, 2007 at 4:56 pmI use to like to chew orbit gum, now I have changed to the Stride. I get a full pack and it doesn’t last but mabye two days. Age:14
October 9th, 2007 at 12:02 pmI just started eating the gum w/ the wrapper after my sisters friend told me I could. Its good, actually it makes no difference, but being different is good! And if I want to chew the wrapper instead of sticking it in my pocket then I think I should…look on the bright side, less to go off to our waste dumps.=D
October 11th, 2007 at 8:21 amOKAY you are not suposed to eat the gum rapper okay is it that hard to peel the wrapper of and then chew the gum i tried it a nd i was going to puke tottaly diqusting i definitely do not reccomend this
October 16th, 2007 at 7:12 pmhaha, I heard that too, it ruins teh gum… however, I gave my friend 2 pieces wrapped in normal paper, they didnt notice the difference between the two wrappers, and then ate it, and didnt complain… Sooo, the wrappers are just paper that is permitted to be eaten…
October 17th, 2007 at 7:26 pmi loved eating the wrapper. i ate it once and threw it back up. it is toxic
October 25th, 2007 at 4:20 pmwell no offense But i think the person who came up with that idea might be mentally retarded sorry but really think about it do u really want to eat a wrapper tottally weird!!!!!! lol!!
October 25th, 2007 at 4:40 pmya you ca eat the box sure y not lol seriously who asks that question, how bout u try eating it and let us know what happens!
November 1st, 2007 at 10:21 amMY Aunt and i had a discussion about this, when i ate the wrapper of Stride gum…and it kinda sucks because i lost the arguement…but o well good to know~
November 4th, 2007 at 9:41 pmI LUV THIS GUM I TRIED IT WITH THE WRAPPER CAUSE MY SISTER SAID IT WAS EDIBLE SO I TRIED IT IN SCHOOL DURING CLASS AND ALL MY FRIENDS ARE LIKE EWWWWWWWW IM LIKE U CAN EAT IT SO LIKE YEAH!!!!!!
November 16th, 2007 at 9:20 pmI was hanging out with my friend and I was eating stride gum. I was about to throw the wrapper away when she was like, “No, don’t throw it away. I heard that you can eat it!” And I was like, “Yeah right. Feel free to eat it yourself, but I really have no desire to eat paper.” So she actually put it in her mouth and started eating it, but then wisely spit it back out into the trash. I can kinda understand chewing it with the gum, but just eating it by itself is pretty retarded.
November 18th, 2007 at 1:34 pmCandy rules
December 1st, 2007 at 6:47 pmim eating stride rite now and i eat the wrappers sooo… boo yah!!! beat that
December 1st, 2007 at 6:48 pm:] iloveyou
December 1st, 2007 at 6:49 pmDoes the wrapper help the gum retain it’s flavor?? I just ask because for a gum whose main advertising slogan is how long the flavor lasts, it certainly is one of the worst gums I have ever chewed as far as longevity of flavor! After less than an hour it was a flavorless hunk of semi-soft plastic, meaning it also gets harder the longer you chew it. Thinking it was possibly just my taste buds, I gave a piece to the two boys I watch while their mother drinks & gambles and their father is hard at work milking cows for free for his brother. The 9 year old asked if he could spit it out after 20 minutes, asked why he replied: “it doesn’t taste good anymore and it is hard to chew”. The 14 year old kept chewing his until I brought them home 4 hours later! I asked what he thought of it, he replied: “it is rubbery and lost its flavor hours ago”. So besides Stride’s great initial flavor it has a lot to be desired.
December 5th, 2007 at 11:30 pmI had everyone in my math class at scool doing it, i like it better with the rapper because for some reason it feels slightly mintier. But thanks for the info
December 6th, 2007 at 1:57 pmOMG my sister told me to do that lol I thought it tasted kinda chunky for like 5 minutes..Oh well, at least it’s not toxic :]
December 6th, 2007 at 7:02 pmWell, dont laugh..but i actually do eat the gum with the wrapper. I often tear each end off because i feel as if it is too hard to chew. Other than that, im a happy gum chewer….WITH THE WRAPPER!!! Not to mention the light blue piece thats in my mouth as we speak!
December 15th, 2007 at 11:41 pmi was on the bus and all of the sudden my friend April says you can eat the rapper of stride gum so i did it in front of my mom and she looked it up and said it increases the risk of cancer and plus it makes the taste leave in like 30 seconds SO POO POO PADOO ON YOU
December 18th, 2007 at 10:29 pmstride gum doesnt last as long as they say >.> orbit lasts longer
December 19th, 2007 at 9:35 pmtoday my friend made me eat stride with the wrapper, it didn’t really taste different, it just kind of disoloved but i was still kinda worried that it was toxic or something and that i was gonna die the next day so i am now extremly relieved to know that i will not die but i will not eat the wrapper again.
December 20th, 2007 at 7:21 pmLook. My friend Slly said that i could eat the stride wrapper. I said “no you can’t”. Then the popped it in her mouth and siply said, “see?”. So I tried it. It maid no difference! Plus, it’s les to throw away! Save the Earth!
Thanks! 63426
December 30th, 2007 at 7:01 pmWow that bumbed me out but i have this idea ya know if everyone ate the wrappers(sinc it can’t hurt you) do you know how good that would be for the earth and how much we would be recycling i think all candy industries need to do that way to go stride for making rice wrappers now evertime i get gum i get stride becuase it’s good and your saving the earth!
January 7th, 2008 at 6:39 pmlol honestly…to all you crazy environmentalists out there… its going to end up in the waste either way, id rather in be in the form of paper rather than poo, but maybe thats just me :]
January 8th, 2008 at 10:37 pmyou chew it with the gum it gives it more flaver and lasts longer
January 10th, 2008 at 4:52 pmHmmm…talk about being lame.
January 10th, 2008 at 9:09 pmNo you cant eat the wrapper of any gum…
unless your tryna kill urself.
i LUV this gum soooooo much
January 14th, 2008 at 2:33 pmGosh, how many of you people SWALLOW their gum??
January 15th, 2008 at 9:04 pmI just ate the wrapper lol.
January 20th, 2008 at 12:14 ami love to chew the whole thing wrapper and all! its so much easier in school to not get caught by just chewing the whole thing!!! :)
January 23rd, 2008 at 5:57 pmLol, so i just found out today the paper dissoves… and i tried it, not believing people, and to my suprise it did, and since its not unhealthy ill do it anyway cuz 1) people look at u funny and 2) i like the aftertexture of the gum :D
January 29th, 2008 at 7:46 pm(replying to 33,52,and 53)
You know, it all ends up in the trash in the end anyways,its not really less because the wrapper adds to the gum, thus there is the just the same amount of waste! duh! Btw it says that the wrapper IS edible BUT they recommend you not eat it. I admit, I have tried it before, and when you guys choke on one of the wrapper pieces one day ,it’ll be all your fault!So I agree, with the people that make stride, just because it’s edible doesn’t mean you should eat it.
February 4th, 2008 at 9:35 pmOh, and to all you people who think the opposite of this ya’ll are messed up. Stride is WAY better than orbit!! Thanks to the people who love Stride! (especially Forever Fruit)!!! TTYL
heyy wass upp??,
February 5th, 2008 at 1:55 pmI chew the stride wrappers all the time! You can only eat the light blue wrapper! (just to warn you!) It makes the flavour of the gum last a lost longer and also, the wrapper just desolves any way so stop being so weird about it it is fun to chew them!-Annabel!!!!!!!!!!
P.S.- CANDY ROX UR SOX OFF!!!!
lmao!! at #10!
February 5th, 2008 at 6:29 pmYea i am here to see if its true or not because when me and my friends were high, this question appeared out of no where. They were saying you can eat it for environmental purposes, rofl. and i thought they were just trying to trick me….
so thanks for the info ill let them know who was correct!
February 22nd, 2008 at 8:01 pmI grew up being told that Fruit Stripe Gum was to be chewed with the wrapper, too, although we very rarely did so. It made the flavor disappear in five seconds instead of six!
March 3rd, 2008 at 9:16 pmOkay, so your not able to swallow it, but is it bad to chew on it? Because I chew on it all the time.
March 15th, 2008 at 9:07 pmi once tried eating the wrapper of stride gum, didn’t turn out so well.
March 15th, 2008 at 11:46 pmI tried eating the paper plain as well.
March 21st, 2008 at 4:30 pmI waited like an hour, and it was still there chillin’ out in my mouth. I don’t see the problem with eating it with the paper, because you’re not really eating the gum. Saying it’s bad to chew on guw with the wrapper is like saying it’s dangerous to make spit-balls.
i tried to get my mom to eat tha gum with the wrapper but she said she wouldnt do it until she found in print so this ruins it shell never do it now.:(
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:10 pmi showd it and she laughed so hard.;)
March 23rd, 2008 at 9:15 pmI love Stride!!! When they came out I bought a couple of packs and gave some to my homeboys and they unanimously agreed it is the longest lasting gum…. One time I chewed on a stride for looooonnnnnggg hours without noticing and it was a nice experience
March 24th, 2008 at 4:32 amthis stuff is awesome
March 25th, 2008 at 4:16 pmits way better wit da wrapper
but can u rly eat the box
ha, someone ate a wrapper at school today. everyone was saying that it has nutrients in it, just wait till they find out they just ate paper for no reason. he he he!
March 25th, 2008 at 10:29 pmto me the wrapper shouldn’t be eaten anyway. But my friends were telling me to, but I didn’t because I thought it was stupid. So I agree not to eat it.
March 28th, 2008 at 5:05 pmKEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!!!!
:)
And if I may recommend some flavors.
March 28th, 2008 at 5:21 pmmy recommended flavors are: grape, bluerasberry, pineapple, sour green, yellow, and red apple, lemon, lime, strawberry, cherry, rasberry, orange, blackberry,mango,soda.
please anything that will attract people more even though it last long people i no will buy it, and alot of it at that because it will be their favorite kind. i do recommend it so please think about it.
:) 8)
I agree with maggie only I tried it with the gum and it was still there with the gum. I was very disappointed. But I do agree with the company of not to eat the wrapper but as maggie said it is like saying that spit balls are toxic to the childs mouth but they will still do it for the heck of it. but still keep up the good work.
March 29th, 2008 at 4:10 pm8)
Haha LOL at school I gave my friend a priece of gum and it was my lastpeice and he told me to eat the wrrapper alone and I did then it got rreally sticky and nasty so I stuck it under my desk LOL
March 30th, 2009 at 3:54 pmif you like to eat the wrapper, then go singe yourself in a couch fire
March 30th, 2009 at 7:38 pmyou’re gonna give yourself cancer if you crack your toe
March 30th, 2009 at 7:40 pmi you’re gonna eat the wrapper
March 30th, 2009 at 7:45 pmWhen you eat the wrapper you eat it with the gum and its not that bad it like disintegrates in ur mouth
December 22nd, 2009 at 7:14 pmcan u chew it or not? all my friends do, but it makes it chunky
February 18th, 2010 at 8:41 pmwow thats so stupid i mean this gum can actually kill you and give you cancer! who ever made this gum like what the heke dont you think? just weird!!
March 13th, 2010 at 7:05 pmuggg just eww
March 13th, 2010 at 7:06 pmthnx so much for tht!! my friend is always tryin to trick me nd yesterday she tld me tht the stride wrapper is edible… i dnt wanna die or anything so… yu no ;) thnx :D
May 18th, 2010 at 6:40 amCan you eat the box and the plastic. Plz help because i ate four hole packages of stride gum.
June 24th, 2010 at 2:53 pmok i was talking abiut eating stride gum wrappers and i heard and saw that IT IS ETIBLE TO EAT. !!!!! IT WILL NOT HURT YOU!!!! ALSO THE GUM WILLL TASTE BETTER AND GET DARKER WHILE CHEWING..!! :) MMMMM YUMM ! :)
January 13th, 2011 at 11:25 amBrian, thank you for referring us to this post and for linking to Gum Alert! I’m updating our FAQ right now. You’re the best!
January 14th, 2011 at 11:46 amDuring WWII strident was sent to groups with a special wrapper that would dissolve so groups wouldn’t accidents leave a trail right to them. My grandfather told me that when I was younger about his army days.
June 10th, 2011 at 10:54 pmtried it…stupid
June 11th, 2011 at 11:13 pmYou said can you eat the wrapper, where as most people chew it, they don’t eat it…. and they said its not to be eaten, they never said anything about chewing….
June 16th, 2011 at 5:53 pmWell you guys are a bunch of idiots…
Of course you CAN eat it but it’s not recommended…
You can type with just your pinkies but it’s not recommended…
And as far as flavor longevity I made a list starting with the worst…
Dentine
Eclipse
Juicy Fruit
Double Bubble
Trident
Orbit
Stride
5
Trident layers
Extra
You guys don’t have to agree with me and some of those are really tight and debatable such as 5 and stride but I have not yet tried stride 2.0
I literally can chew a piece of extra for 7 hours because it doesn’t get hard it actually gets soft and then starts to get melty and I have to spit it out…
August 7th, 2011 at 2:39 amI am a collector interested in swaping or buying those kind of gumwrappers from my site:
http://gumpapers.wordpress.com/
My favourites are italian ones.Please contact me on blog if you have something like this.
October 5th, 2011 at 7:38 amAnd if I may recommend some flavors.
January 8th, 2012 at 11:04 ammy recommended flavors are: grape, bluerasberry, pineapple, sour green, yellow, and red apple, lemon, lime, strawberry, cherry, rasberry, orange, blackberry,mango,soda.
please anything that will attract people more even though it last long people i no will buy it, and alot of it at that because it will be their favorite kind. i do recommend it so please think about it.
i just saw that thing, so.. having some stride gum already {lol} i tried it. and after not too long you really dont notice the wrapper. it pretty much disappears. chew the gum, wrapper and all.
January 11th, 2012 at 4:10 amI would just like to mention how much I love all the amazing grammar of the commenters! Thank you so much! It just so happened to drive me up a wall! And yes, I can proudly say that I’m 14 years old and I actually don’t use texting language thanks to my mother being an English teacher. So, please, use what you leaned in school and use “you” not “u” please. It will get you much further in life!
May 26th, 2012 at 11:05 pm