She chuckles at the fancy chefs who come to pitch their creations because some don't understand that supermarket customers often don't have a complete set of cutlery, much less an electric mixer, to re-create the recipes

The Goddess Of Go-Gurt
By JOHN CLOUD

Sheri Schellhaass is a scientist whose version of the Petri dish is a plastic tray displaying Galaxy Blast Fruit Roll-Ups. And she's a foodie, a culinary whiz, in fact, who prefers egg-salad sandwiches for lunch and wears a hairnet at work. If you're part of the foie gras set, stop reading. But if you want yogurt on a stick, you gotta meet her.

As a research executive for General Mills, Schellhaass doesn't create the most inspiring flavors (not counting Key-lime-pie yogurt), but she does make food that most of us actually eat. Like Go-Gurt, this yogurt-in-a-tube thing that has become a sensation among kids. It is the fastest-selling yogurt product ever released and one of General Mills' biggest market entrants in its 72-year history. (The key: Go-Gurt's tube means no spoon is required.) The company has sold $340 million worth of Go-Gurt, according to an independent researcher, and General Mills has dethroned Dannon as the nation's leading yogurt maker.

Schellhaass's secret? The know-how to process organic food into something that will taste good after

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Name: Sheri Schellhaass
Why critics are taking note: Schellhaass has the scientific know-how required to process organic food into something that will taste good after weeks on a shelf
General Mills


THIS MONTH'S INNOVATORS


Will the 21st century produce more important innovations than the last? Who will be the top inventors? Tell us if you agree with TIME's choices.


Which of the following breakthroughs do you think will come first?

The ability to clone humans
A cure for cancer
Extending the average life past 100
Other


Do you know the next Einstein? Is your neighbor working on the next great health breakthrough? If so, e-mail us the name of your nominee, explaining in 50 words or less why we should choose him or her.

Go to the Time 100

About the Series

PHOTOS: Ferran Adria by LAURENT MONLAU‹RAPHO FOR TIME,
Kathleen Finch by JONATHAN SAUNDERS FOR TIME,
Claudia Fleming by CATRINA GENOVESE FOR TIME,
Michael Jacobson by MANUELLO PAGANELLI FOR TIME,
Pat Kuleto by WILLIAM MERCER MCLEOD FOR TIME,
Sheri Schellhaass by DOUG KNUTSON FOR TIME
Copyright © 2000 Time Inc. All rights reserved.
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