Samuel J. Porcello ( – May 12, 2012) was an American

food scientist Food science (or bromatology) is the basic science and applied science of food; its scope starts at overlap with agricultural science and nutritional science and leads through the scientific aspects of food safety and food processing, informing ...

who worked at

Nabisco Nabisco (, abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International. Nabisco' ...

for 34 years. He is particularly noted for his work on the modern

Oreo Oreo (; stylized in all caps) is an American brand of sandwich cookie consisting of two cocoa biscuits with a sweet fondant filling. Oreos were introduced in 1912 by Nabisco, and the brand has been owned by Mondelez International since its me ...

cookie A cookie is a sweet biscuit with high sugar and fat content. Cookie dough is softer than that used for other types of biscuit, and they are cooked longer at lower temperatures. The dough typically contains flour, sugar, egg, and some type of ...

. Porcello held five

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

s directly related to the Oreo. In particular, Porcello was the inventor of one version of the white Oreo cookie creme-filling. He was credited as the inventor of the current recipe in his obituary, but the recipe changed twice in 1997 and 2006 to become

kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, ), from the Ashke ...

and trans-fat-free, respectively. His work earned him the nickname, "Mr. Oreo."

Early life

Porcello was born and raised in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

. He also lived in

Wayne, New Jersey Wayne is a Township (New Jersey), township in Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Home to William Paterson University and located less than from Midtown Manhattan, the township is a bedroom suburb of New ...

. He and his family moved to

Toms River, New Jersey Toms River is a Township (New Jersey), township and coastal town located on the Jersey Shore in Ocean County, New Jersey, Ocean County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Its mainland United States, mainland portion is also a census-designated ...

, in 1974, where he resided for the rest of his life. Porcello initially worked as a teacher for a short time during his early career. He then worked for the former Charms Candy Company, a candy manufacturer. He was nearly hired by a major cosmetics company, but his candidacy ended when the company learned that Porcello was color blind.

Career

After his rejection by the cosmetics industry because he was color-blind, Porcello joined Nabisco. When he was hired, Nabisco promised that he could eventually earn a salary of up to $12,000 per year if he was successful. He began his Nabisco career at the company's plant in

Fair Lawn, New Jersey Fair Lawn is a Borough (New Jersey), borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and a bedroom community, bedroom suburb located northwest of New York City. As of the 2020 United States census, the boro ...

. He later worked at Nabisco's corporate headquarters in

East Hanover, New Jersey East Hanover Township is a township in Morris County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's population was 11,105, a decrease of 52 (−0.5%) from the 2010 census count of 11,157, which in turn r ...

. Porcello joined Nabisco's

research and development Research and development (R&D or R+D), known in some countries as OKB, experiment and design, is the set of innovative activities undertaken by corporations or governments in developing new services or products. R&D constitutes the first stage ...

department, which develops new lines of snacks. He was considered one of the world's leading experts on cocoa, which is used to make chocolate. He was given the title, "principal scientist," during his career at Nabisco. The Oreo cookie has been sold since 1912, but it was Porcello who invented the modern creme-filling (excluding the kosher and trans fat changes later on) for Oreos and Double Stuffed Oreos, which have extra filling. In total, Porcello held five patents related to his work on the Oreo. He also developed a

product line In marketing jargon, product lining refers to the offering of several related product (business), products for individual sale. Unlike product bundling, where several products are combined into one group, which is then offered for sale as a uni ...

of Oreos enrobed in

white chocolate White chocolate is a chocolate made from cocoa butter, sugar and milk solids. It is Ivory (color), ivory in color and lacks the dark appearance of most other types of chocolate as it does not contain the non-fat components of cocoa (cocoa sol ...

and

dark chocolate Dark chocolate is a form of chocolate made from cocoa solids, cocoa butter and sugar. It has a higher cocoa percentage than white chocolate, milk chocolate, and semisweet chocolate. Dark chocolate is valued for claimed—though unsupported— ...

. Porcello found the particular type of chocolate which he used for chocolate-covered Oreos while attending a food industry trade show in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Aside from his work with the Oreo, Porcello developed other Nabisco snack products, including SnackWells. His position required him to travel extensively in search of new potential products and ingredients. According to his son, Curtis, Porcello often brought new snacks home with him to see how his family liked or disliked the potential new products. Porcello was not a huge eater of Oreo cookies, preferring to eat the cookie without dunking it in

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

Later life

Porcello left the company as its principal food scientist in 1993 after 34 years. Additionally, he was a longtime volunteer with ACDI/VOCA, for which he helped create a food and program and company in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

. Sam Porcello died May 12, 2012, at the age of 76.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Porcello, Sam 1935 births 2012 deaths American food scientists Nabisco People from Toms River, New Jersey Scientists from Newark, New Jersey People from Wayne, New Jersey