Myth Busted: Stride Gum wrappers should NOT be chewed

Posted on June 19, 2007 by Brian

stride gum pack - do not eat the wrapper

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 edibleâ€¦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!

Stride Gum website

97 thoughts on “Myth Busted: Stride Gum wrappers should NOT be chewed”

Emma on December 20, 2007 at 7:21 pm said:

today 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.
63426 on December 30, 2007 at 7:01 pm said:

Look. 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
Ali on January 7, 2008 at 6:39 pm said:

Wow 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!
ginny on January 8, 2008 at 10:37 pm said:

lol 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 :]
lol hi! on January 10, 2008 at 4:52 pm said:

you chew it with the gum it gives it more flaver and lasts longer
Hondaville. on January 10, 2008 at 9:09 pm said:

Hmmm…talk about being lame.
No you cant eat the wrapper of any gum…
unless your tryna kill urself.
stephen hogg on January 14, 2008 at 2:33 pm said:

i LUV this gum soooooo much
Kitty on January 15, 2008 at 9:04 pm said:

Gosh, how many of you people SWALLOW their gum??
Gumchewin69 on January 20, 2008 at 12:14 am said:

I just ate the wrapper lol.
love_gum on January 23, 2008 at 5:57 pm said:

i 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!!! :)
Stevo on January 29, 2008 at 7:46 pm said:

Lol, 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
Stride on February 4, 2008 at 9:35 pm said:

(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.
Oh, 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
annie on February 5, 2008 at 1:55 pm said:

heyy wass upp??,
I 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!!!!
Courtney on February 5, 2008 at 6:29 pm said:

lmao!! at #10!
Hajf on February 22, 2008 at 8:01 pm said:

Yea 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!
Beamer on March 3, 2008 at 9:16 pm said:

I 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!
JJ on March 15, 2008 at 9:07 pm said:

Okay, so your not able to swallow it, but is it bad to chew on it? Because I chew on it all the time.
Vanessa on March 15, 2008 at 11:46 pm said:

i once tried eating the wrapper of stride gum, didn’t turn out so well.
Maggie on March 21, 2008 at 4:30 pm said:

I tried eating the paper plain as well.
I 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.
a on March 23, 2008 at 9:10 pm said:

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.:(
a on March 23, 2008 at 9:15 pm said:

i showd it and she laughed so hard.;)
Stride Fan on March 24, 2008 at 4:32 am said:

I 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
gumchewer on March 25, 2008 at 4:16 pm said:

this stuff is awesome
its way better wit da wrapper
but can u rly eat the box
lana_lang on March 25, 2008 at 10:29 pm said:

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!
kiki on March 28, 2008 at 5:05 pm said:

to 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.
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!!!!
:)
kiki on March 28, 2008 at 5:21 pm said:

And if I may recommend some flavors.
my 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)
kiki on March 29, 2008 at 4:10 pm said:

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.
8)
Ur mom on March 30, 2009 at 3:54 pm said:

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
Beatles Fan on March 30, 2009 at 7:38 pm said:

if you like to eat the wrapper, then go singe yourself in a couch fire
Beatles Fan on March 30, 2009 at 7:40 pm said:

you’re gonna give yourself cancer if you crack your toe
Beatles Fan on March 30, 2009 at 7:45 pm said:

i you’re gonna eat the wrapper
YourFace! on December 22, 2009 at 7:14 pm said:

When you eat the wrapper you eat it with the gum and its not that bad it like disintegrates in ur mouth
awesomeness on February 18, 2010 at 8:41 pm said:

can u chew it or not? all my friends do, but it makes it chunky
Tanpreet on March 13, 2010 at 7:05 pm said:

wow 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!!
Tanpreet on March 13, 2010 at 7:06 pm said:

uggg just eww
Tylerz on May 18, 2010 at 6:40 am said:

thnx 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
Damian on June 24, 2010 at 2:53 pm said:

Can you eat the box and the plastic. Plz help because i ate four hole packages of stride gum.
bUbleZ01 on January 13, 2011 at 11:25 am said:

ok 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 ! :)
Shannon on January 14, 2011 at 11:46 am said:

Brian, 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!
Alex on June 10, 2011 at 10:54 pm said:

During 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.
Brad on June 11, 2011 at 11:13 pm said:

tried it…stupid
ariel on June 16, 2011 at 5:53 pm said:

You 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….
Me on August 7, 2011 at 2:39 am said:

Well 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…
gumpapers on October 5, 2011 at 7:38 am said:

I 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.
wenxin-candy boxes on January 8, 2012 at 11:04 am said:

And if I may recommend some flavors.
my 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.
wenxin-candy boxes on January 11, 2012 at 4:10 am said:

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.
LucyGoosie on May 26, 2012 at 11:05 pm said:

I 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!