If you've ever bought a box of Cheerios or fruit roll-ups, you've sampled the work of a little-known scientist at General Mills named Joseph D. Mullen.
For 32 years, Mullen toiled in the company's secretive James Ford Bell research center in Golden Valley, where he tested new products and helped dream up others. He also helped the food giant find new ways to improve and promote the nutritional value of its products by conducting research on test subjects that sometimes included his own children.
"Long before fiber was important to the consuming public, Joe was touting the nutritional value of fiber," said Jon Blake, a former General Mills vice president who worked alongside Mullen for years. "It made a huge difference in General Mills' cereal sales. He was the whole-grain guru."
Mullen died on May 21. He was 87.
Mullen was born in Green Isle, Minn., and attended Glencoe High School. He was drawn to science as a child, said his wife of 65 years, Yvonne Mullen. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in chemistry from then-College of St. Thomas in 1956 and later obtained a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Minnesota.
He was on the verge taking a job with Procter & Gamble when General Mills offered him one as a chemist at its research lab. He spent years in the company's Big G group, focused on breakfast cereal, rising to the position of senior principal scientist.
"Dad would come home from work often with something he was testing," said Colleen Dillon, the youngest of Mullen's four children. "We were part of his research."
One of her favorite experiences was testing the cereals that became Count Chocula, Franken Berry and Boo Berry, the so-called "Monster" cereals that debuted in 1971. She said the four Mullen kids were monitored closely to see if their poop turned funny colors from the dyes in the cereal. "We would give feedback on whether we liked it, but he also wanted to see how it affected the digestive system," Dillon said.
Cereals from competitors were off-limits, even for visitors to the family's lake cabin near Lutsen. "No one was allowed to bring any cereal to the cabin besides General Mills," said Dillon, adding that her father ate Cheerios for breakfast almost every day until the end of his life.
Mullen's biggest legacy may be the research he did in conjunction with the U that showed Cheerios lowers cholesterol. The finding changed the way the company promoted the cereal, Blake said.
"Joe's mission was to ensure that our cereals, or any other foods we sold, were healthier than our competitors," Blake said. "He played a significant part in changing the way General Mills used science-based knowledge to market to the consumer."
Blake said one of Mullen's most revolutionary ideas was finding a use for orange pulp, which led to the introduction of fruit roll-ups in 1983. Product development started in 1975.
"Joe's idea was to take someone else's waste product and make a nutritious product for children," Blake said. "Most people wouldn't do that."
Mullen was awarded six patents for his work, including inventing a "high-pressure process for making puffed food products." Dillon said she'll never forget her trip to the research lab, which was opened to family members once every 10 years or so. She watched the machine her dad helped design make a batch of Cheerios.
"It was like going behind the curtain to see the grand and glorious Oz," she said.
Services have been held.
Jeffrey Meitrodt • 612-673-4132
"general" - Google News
May 29, 2021 at 03:52AM
https://ift.tt/3wJCjzA
Joseph Mullen, longtime General Mills food scientist, dies at 87 - Minneapolis Star Tribune
"general" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2YopsF9
https://ift.tt/3faOei7
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Joseph Mullen, longtime General Mills food scientist, dies at 87 - Minneapolis Star Tribune"
Post a Comment