Mexican Mayans to sell organic gum in Europe

CHETUMAL, Mexico (Reuters) - Street cleaners in Britain may spend less time scraping gobs of chewing gum from the pavement after indigenous farmers from Mexico launch their own brand of natural gum harvested by hand in the rainforest.

A cooperative of over 50 Mayan communities in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, where Sapodilla trees have been tapped for their sticky latex since before the Spanish conquest, will start selling biodegradable chewing gum in British stores this month.

Unlike common chewing gum made of synthetic rubber, which can take years to break down, the cooperative's "Chicza" brand is made from chicle, a natural substance that degrades quickly, Jesus Manuel Aldrete, the cooperative's director, told Reuters.

"Chewing gum made from synthetic polymers sticks easily to asphalt because both contain similar components," Aldrete said. "Chicle is organic."

Ancestors of the Mayans making the gum near the Cancun beach resort munched on chicle to help their digestion and clean their teeth, said Aldrete.

Modern manufacturers originally used chicle to make gum but eventually switched to cheaper polymer ingredients.

Japanese and Korean companies still demand the natural chicle -- extracted from the trees by crisscrossing cuts into their bark in a method similar to rubber harvesting -- but the Mayans say the market for their product has shrunk dramatically since synthetic gums were invented.

Chicza is producing its gum in red fruit, orange and cinnamon flavours, and plans to launch first in London and later in other European countries.

(Reporting by Eduardo Quiros and Mica Rosenberg, editing by Vicki Allen)