Innovative food researcher dies

Monona, Wis. -- Edward Traisman, an innovative U.S. food scientist, researcher and inventor, has died of heart disease at age 91.

Traisman, who lived in Monona, Wis., died Tuesday, the Wisconsin State Journal said. Over his long career, he was part of a Kraft Foods team that created Cheez Whiz, instant pudding and individualized cheese slices.

As an owner of five McDonald's restaurants in the Madison, Wis., area, he developed a two-step frying method that preserved the potatoes longer.

Traisman was born in Chicago on Nov. 25, 1915, to Latvian immigrant parents. He graduated from the University of Illinois with a degree in chemistry and joined Kraft.

He and his wife Dorothy had five children.

In 1970, he joined the UW-Madison Food Research Institute where he was instrumental in developing research projects including the Wisconsin Process for preserving bacon. He was still at work until a few days before his death.

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