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Fermented food/beverage and health: current perspectives

• Published: 29 September 2022
• Volume 33 , pages 729–738, ( 2022 )

Cite this article

• Alessandra Durazzo   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-7747-9107 1 ,
• Marcio Carocho 2 ,
• Sandrina A. Heleno 2 ,
• Mariana C. Pedrosa 2 ,
• Jonata M. Ueda 2 ,
• Lillian Barros 2 ,
• Eliana B. Souto 3 , 4 ,
• Antonello Santini 5 &
• Massimo Lucarini 1  

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Fermented products have been gaining a notable importance in recent years due to the health benefits that they can provide in relation to the initial unfermented food matrix, i.e. in the enhancement of nutrients, effect on glucose metabolism and bioactivity, the presence of probiotics in some foods. The paper gives a current analysis of the fermented food/beverage and health relationship studies present in the literature and it is based on a literature quantitative analysis approach. VOSviewer software was utilized to extract and elaborate bibliometric data. 1504 publications ranged from the year 1970 to 2022 were retrieved by literature search and were collectively cited in 25,868 documents. The subject areas mainly covered are: “Agricultural and Biological Sciences”, “Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology”, “Immunology and Microbiology” and “Medicine”. 1148 terms, in total, are identified and the top recurring terms on the fermented food/beverage and health research are: metabolism, lactobacillus , food microbiology, lactic acid, animals. The functionality of fermented foods are here explored. Innovation is represented towards obtaining specific fermented foods (i.e. yogurts), by changing the fermentation conditions, or by adding or removing compounds that alter the fermentation, and thus, with the improvement of technologies like nanotechnology, targeted nutrition and others, it is expected that fermented food will consolidate their position in the food market.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support through national funds FCT/MCTES to the CIMO (UIDB/00690/2020). M. Carocho and S. Heleno thank FCT, for their individual employment program-contract (CEECIND/00831/2018, CEECIND/03040/2017), while L. Barros thanks FCT, through the institutional scientific employment program-contract.

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Durazzo, A., Carocho, M., Heleno, S.A. et al. Fermented food/beverage and health: current perspectives. Rend. Fis. Acc. Lincei 33 , 729–738 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12210-022-01093-6

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• Published: 19 April 2023

The microbial food revolution

• Alicia E. Graham 1 &
• Rodrigo Ledesma-Amaro   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2631-5898 1  

Nature Communications volume  14 , Article number:  2231 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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• Applied microbiology
• Industrial microbiology

Our current food system relies on unsustainable practices, which often fail to provide healthy diets to a growing population. Therefore, there is an urgent demand for new sustainable nutrition sources and processes. Microorganisms have gained attention as a new food source solution, due to their low carbon footprint, low reliance on land, water and seasonal variations coupled with a favourable nutritional profile. Furthermore, with the emergence and use of new tools, specifically in synthetic biology, the uses of microorganisms have expanded showing great potential to fulfil many of our dietary needs. In this review, we look at the different applications of microorganisms in food, and examine the history, state-of-the-art and potential to disrupt current foods systems. We cover both the use of microbes to produce whole foods out of their biomass and as cell factories to make highly functional and nutritional ingredients. The technical, economical, and societal limitations are also discussed together with the current and future perspectives.

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Introduction.

The current food systems have been pushed to a crisis, as they struggle to keep up with nutrition and protein demand coupled with population growth 1 . All our food systems—agriculture, animal husbandry and aquaculture—are grappling with the degradation of land, climate change and climate disasters, which are set to rise in the future 2 . Although moving towards plant-based foods is less environmentally harmful, it still relies on climate or season and intensive land, water and chemical use 3 . The time for a microbial revolution in food is ripe as microorganisms have the potential to enhance, improve or even replace the currently available alternatives 4 , 5 . They have been proven to be an ecological and resilient food source, especially when compared to traditional protein sources such as meat 6 , 7 . Genetic and system design can advance sustainability further when renewable and waste feedstocks are considered 8 , 9 . Furthermore, they are highly resilient due to their decentralised nature that does not rely on location limitations, such as temperature or weather 10 . Finally, they also have a high nutritional profile 11 , crucial in the face of rising diet-related health epidemics.

Microorganisms are no stranger in the history of food; however, research has lately revealed the vast array of health benefits and ecological savings that can be derived from using microorganisms in food 12 , 13 . This has led to an explosion in new applications, improvement in traditional practices using state-of-the-art technology 14 , 15 , 16 and a better understanding of their roles and benefits 13 . Fermentation can be used both directly on foods to improve nutrition, taste or texture 17 , 18 , as well as used as a production platform to produce value-added ingredients in the food industry 19 , 20 , 21 . Moreover, using fermentation to produce microbial biomass as a nutritional food source is starting to be adopted in both animal feed and human foods 22 , 23 , 24 . However, there are challenges to overcome in each of these applications, including scalability and economic or ecological sustainability. Novel tools can be applied to these fields to enhance and accelerate the development of microbial-based foods and overcome current limitations. This includes high-resolution and high-throughput characterisation of microorganisms 14 , 25 , as well as genetic and metabolic engineering tools 4 . By engineering and selecting strains, it is possible to improve flavour 26 and nutrition 20 , 27 , 28 as well as increase sustainability using waste feed or cheap non-competing carbon sources 8 , 29 . This can contribute to increasing applications and uptake to propel a microbial revolution in food.

Due to the high potential and varied applications of microbes in food, there have been numerous recent start-ups in this space, ranging from improving traditional fermentation to creating new products (Table  1 ). Development is still needed for technical advances and consumer acceptance but the field of single-cell proteins and engineered microbes in food has high potential, as will be explored in this review. This review aims to give an overview of the different applications of microorganisms in food ranging from traditional fermentation techniques to biotech applications of ingredient production (see Fig.  1 ). It covers the different novel applications of microbes in the food system as well as the role of synthetic biology in advancing this field. Finally, the obstacles and future perspectives will be considered.

A view of the various applications that rely on microbial processes. State-of-the-art in each process is explained as well as the current or potential role of genetic engineering and other future developments to enhance the process or use.

The use of microbes in food

Rise of fermentation in history.

Microorganisms were first leveraged by humans in the food system for fermentation. Fermentation is one of the earliest known food technologies dating as far back as 7000BC or earlier and arising independently in multiple ancient cultures 30 , 31 . Alongside smoking and salting, fermentation was a primary method of food preservation and thus a crucial technology in the rise of human civilisations 32 . In addition, the process also introduced many new products, flavours and tastes. Different fermented products rose from specific environments and conditions which produced a diversity of edible products 32 . These include, but are not limited to, dairy products such as cheese and yoghurt, alcoholic products such as beer and wine, fermented bean products such as soy sauce, douchi (豆豉) and natto, other vegetables such as sauerkraut and kimchi and many more 32 .

The advent of new processing and preservation methods such as refrigeration, the use of natural and artificial preservatives, and freezing and vacuum sealing, among others, have provided alternatives to traditional fermentation. However, more recently, research has brought to our attention the many health benefits offered by a microbial presence in food 13 , 33 , causing a resurgence in popularity, and many newly popularised health foods are fermented or have fermented ingredients. This is compounded by the rise of plant-based diets and increasing access to international foods—many of which include traditionally fermented products. A good example is Kombucha, a traditional Manchurian fermented tea drink which was introduced to the international market with many purported health benefits and now is valued at over 1 billion US dollars 34 . Other well-known examples are Tempeh and Tofu, two fermented soybean products from Indonesia and China, respectively, which are now consumed as meat-alternative protein sources globally 35 .

Different functions and health benefits of fermented foods

Fermentation, in the context of food, refers to raw material undergoing enzymatic conversions in the presence of microorganisms 13 , 36 . These conversions result in alteration in their physicochemical properties. Many of the resulting metabolites play an active role in food preservation, inhibiting the growth of contaminating or spoiling pathogens and increasing shelf life, but others contribute to nutrition, texture, taste and smell 13 . Depending on their composition, fermented food may also bring health benefits. The list is a brief summary of some of the most relevant benefits, although comprehensive reviews can be found on the topic 18 , 37 :

Microbiome enhancing (or probiotic) qualities: The gut microbiome is increasingly proving to be crucial for maintaining health 38 . The use of probiotics supplements has become widely adopted, although the health benefit and strain formulation remain controversial topics 39 . The consumption of certain fermented foods themselves has proven to have probiotic and health-promoting effects 40 .

Increasing bioavailability of nutrients in food: This is due to microorganisms breaking food down for easier digestion and absorption of ingested nutrients. For example, lactic acid fermentation can increase the food’s iron content by optimising pH and acid content for solubility 41 . Similarly, fermentation can improve the nutritional value of food by interfering with anti-nutritional factors, which impede protein, carbohydrate or phytochemical availability. For example, trypsin inhibitors found abundantly in various cereals, grains and legumes have been shown reduced activities in fermented foods 42 .

Reducing Glycaemic Index: The Glycaemic Index (GI) measures how quickly carbohydrates in food raise blood glucose levels 43 . Probiotic and/or fermented cereals, pseudo-cereals and dairy products have been linked to a reduction in the GI of the food and the blood sugar response 43 , 44 . Lowering GI intake and response has been shown to reduce risk factors for diseases such as type II diabetes and cardiovascular disease 43 .

Removing toxins: Microbial consortia can also act by removing toxic compounds and inhibiting the growth of pathogenic species. For example, Aflatoxin, a common toxin found in foods contaminated with Aspergillus flavus , has been shown to be enzymatically reduced in various fermentative processes 45 . Free radicals in vegetable and fruit products are also reduced during fermentation 46 .

Biochemical pathways producing health-promoting compounds: Many microorganisms naturally produce nutritionally beneficial chemical compounds including but not limited to antioxidants, polyunsaturated fatty acids, conjugated linoleic acids (CLA), sphingolipids, vitamins and minerals 4 , 47 , 48 .

However, fermentation does not always improve the foods and undesired microorganisms can negatively impact some nutritional aspects. Some examples include the production of toxic biogenic amines by lactic acid bacteria 35 , including an increase of free histamine due to the high presence of histidine-producing enzymes ( l -histidine decarboxylase) in microorganisms 49 . To counteract this, strategies have been developed to either optimise strain selection 50 or use engineered strains to enhance biogenic amine degradation 51 . Finally, it is also worth noting that many health claims related to fermented foods are yet to be fully verified by randomised controlled trial studies and have often been exaggerated for marketing purposes 52 .

The nutritional profile of microbes

Microbial biomass itself also often has qualities that lend itself to consumption as food, including high protein, fibre and bioactive compound content (see Fig.  2 ).

The left panel shows the various components of microorganisms that are beneficiary for nutritional needs. This includes both macro-molecular elements such as proteins and fibre as well as small bioactive compounds. The right panel shows the relative levels of fibre, protein and micronutrients in four groups of microorganisms commonly used for food applications based on comparisons from the review by Ravindra 11 .

All microorganisms are generally characterised by high protein content, with algal species averaging between 40–60%, fungi 30–70% and bacteria averaging between 53 to as high as 80% 11 , 12 . Furthermore, many species are complete amino acid sources, containing adequate amounts of essential amino acids which humans cannot synthesise and need to acquire from diet 53 . In addition, many microbes have a high content of essential amino acids that are lacking in plants 54 .

Fibres, resistant carbohydrates that are key in maintaining gut health 55 , are also elevated in many microbial species 11 . Algae, for instance, has a high fibre content that is composed mainly of insoluble fibres, cellulose and other polysaccharides found in their cell walls 56 . Both filamentous fungi and yeast have potentially beneficial fibres, namely \({{{{{\rm{\beta }}}}}}\) -glucan and mannan-oligosaccharides, both of which are consumed as health supplements for gut health and immune-boosting effects 57 , 58 .

Although lipid content is generally low compared to animal products, oleaginous yeasts and algae are a source of high-value dietary lipids, especially long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids 34 , 59 . Interestingly, the overall calorie content can be quite low, such as in commercially available nutritional yeast flakes, which contain 400 calories per 100 g, bringing a high ratio of nutrition to energy. Finally, microorganisms often have high endogenous contents of nutritionally relevant compounds, including vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other functional ingredients 11 .

The nutritional profile of microorganisms requires further investigation as their use becomes more widespread. The true digestibility of the elements discussed above has not been fully elucidated 11 and the compositions can differ widely based on different species and the environments in which they are grown 60 . Species need to be carefully selected as some microorganisms also have significant safety and health detriments. An elevated RNA content is often seen in microorganisms which can lead to health issues, such as gout and kidney stones 61 . Some fungal and bacterial species also produce allergens and toxins and are thus ill-suited as food or require processing before ingestion 11 . By carefully choosing species, substrates, and conditions, the nutritional aspects of the food can be modulated to suit specific needs.

New technologies and applications for microbes in human food

Enhancing fermentation.

Fermentation can be optimised by specially selecting, breeding or engineering strains of microbes to enhance the appearance, taste or health profile of fermented foods 18 , 62 , 63 . Traditionally, breeding and selection techniques were used to select for favourable qualities even before the biology of microbes was discovered, leading to vastly different strains for specific uses 30 . Using genetic profiling techniques and -omics technology, we are now able to further identify strains with favourable properties 14 , 15 . Large-scale analysis has also enabled the identification of strains with desired aromas, which were further improved by hybridisation techniques 16 .

More recently, fermentation has been enhanced by using genetic engineering, where strains used in traditional fermentation can be manipulated to produce additional beneficial products. Some examples of modifications include the enhanced production of B vitamins in Lactobacilli used in dairy products 63 , 64 or the synthesis of aroma compounds in S. cerevisiae strains for novel and improved beer flavours 65 .

Genetic engineering has also been used to improve the sustainability of the fermentative food processes, which can be achieved by expanding or improving substrate range and utilisation 22 , 66 , 67 This furthers the potential to use waste feedstocks 8 , 9 and move towards a fully circular economy.

It is worth noting that many fermentation processes are carried out by microbial communities rather than single strains, which adds an additional layer of complexity to the understanding and limits our capacity to improve them. Advances in sequencing technologies and systems biology have allowed us to improve our knowledge of microbial consortia, including those found naturally in foods, as has been reviewed in previous works 68 , 69 . In addition, in the last years, synthetic biology tools specifically developed to engineer microbial communities have been created 70 , which have the potential to be used to improve food manufacturing. This includes spreading metabolic burden such as when two strategies to reduce browning in soy sauce production were engineered to act synergistically in two microbial species 71 , or enhancing natural coculture properties, such as increasing quorum sensing mechanisms which reduce food spoilage 72 .

Use of microbes as a protein source in human food

The use of microbes as a food ingredient is known as single-cell protein (SCP) and usually refers either to dried or processed microbe biomass or to the proteins extracted from it. It can be ingested either as a supplement, ingredient or as a main food source (see Fig.  1 ). Thanks to its potential for sustainable fermentation 8 , 28 and its favourable nutritional profile 11 , it has the potential to become a large component of our diet.

SCP has a long and varied history, beginning before the World Wars and continuing into the late and mid 20th century 73 , 74 . However, most projects were discontinued in the face of rising energy costs and the success of the green revolution, although some legacies remain 75 . One of the first of these is Marmite, established in 1902 as a by-product of the beer industry has even been consumed as an army ration as a source of B vitamins 61 . Since then, there has been development in other, more texturised SCPs—notably that of Quorn. Quorn, established in the 1980s, produces SCP from the filamentous fungi Fusarium venenatum and then treated to remove excess nucleic acid content and finally texturized to create meat replacements 76 . It is now a widely distributed product sold in 17 countries with a reported revenue of 236 million GBP in 2020. SCPs are also consumed as a health supplement, such as the microalgae Chlorella and Spirulina, which are rich sources of proteins as well as phytonutrients and vitamins 77 .

Given the ecological and nutritional benefits of SCPs, there is a renewed demand which has resulted in research into new sources of SCPs as well as novel cultivation methods. There is a profusion of start-up companies trying to bring new SCP products to market with some examples listed in Table  1 , with many start-ups focussing on meat alternatives.

So far, most research has focused on wild-type (non-engineered) strains, which have been selected based on their protein content and whose production have been optimised manipulating growing conditions. Synthetic biology has the potential to engineer selected strains to further improve protein production, which can be achieved by (1) enhancing and expanding the capacity to efficiently use desirable feedstocks, (2) improving yields for biomass and protein production and (3) adding functionalities to the single-cell protein by the co-production of valuable compounds such as vitamins or antioxidants 78 . Improving growth and substrate use can greatly improve ecological and economical aspects, for example, by transforming waste into proteins 79 .

Animal meat alternatives

Microbes are a promising substitute for meat products. This is thanks to their matching protein and nutrient levels, as well as their potential to be modified and texturized to resemble meat.

One of the most established companies is Quorn, which produces SCP derived from filamentous fungi. Quorn has products that resemble meat products from chicken nuggets to beef mince and has a large selection of different textures and forms it comes in refs. 80 , 81 . To achieve this, the long strands of hyphae are mixed with binding agents and then this fibre–gel complex is freeze texturised which allows for hyphal laminations that recreate the fibrous texture of meat 80 . Other start-ups including Meati Foods, Mycorena and Nature’s Fynd are also producing meat analogues from filamentous fungi.

Besides mimicking the nutritional profile or protein content, meat flavourings can also be produced by microbes. These products can be extracted and purified, or the whole microbial biomass can be used. For example, in the Impossible burger, Pichia pastoris is engineered to produce soybean leghaemoglobin c2 26 , which recreates part of the flavour profile of meat. The engineered microorganism is then incorporated with other ingredients including soy and potato proteins. Haemoglobin is also being produced as a stand-alone ingredient to add to plant-based meats, such as in the start-up Motif Foodworks. In academia, there is a concentrated effort to produce many variations of haemoglobin proteins which could account for future taste expansions 82 . Other individual components of meat can also be produced, such as the structural elements gelatine and collagen 83 , 84 .

Finally, one main challenge of recreating meat is providing an adequate lipid composition and content. Most plant-based alternatives utilise plant oils, which have a strongly differing taste and mouthfeel. The endogenous contents of lipids in microbes also differ significantly from that of meat; however, there is vast academic research on producing dietary lipids in microbes. Oleaginous species have been found to be a suitable production platform for highly nutritious fatty acids, such as omega-3 fatty acids which are found abundantly in fish 27 . Furthermore, advancement in the production of microbial oils gives us the potential to not only tune lipid composition but to also modify fatty acids to become more suitable for animal replacement uses 85 . Little focus has been given to mimick animal fats in academic research, although start-ups such as Melt & Marble and Nourish Ingredients aim to make dietary fats for animal replacements through fermentation.

Other animal product alternatives

Engineering microbes also have the potential to recreate animal products such as dairy and eggs. This is done through precision fermentation, where the pathways of individual components have been engineered into microorganisms.

Milk is composed of oligosaccharides, fats, sugars and proteins, primarily that of casein and whey 4 . These various components are being reproduced using synthetic biology in microorganisms 4 . The main milk proteins, namely casein proteins and whey proteins, have been successfully engineered into various organisms, including bacteria and yeasts 4 . These technologies are being employed by various start-ups developing animal-free milk, such as Perfect day, Better Dairy and Formo, which use purified milk proteins extracted from microbial cell factories and mixed with other fats and sugars.

Human breast milk has also been researched as it is thought to have important effects on the development of the neonatal gut flora and immune system 86 . Components such as milk fats and milk oligosaccharides have been developed with precision fermentation for human breast milk, both in academia as well as in industry, such as by the SME Conagen. Human milk oligosaccharides (HMOs) have been produced in both S. cerevisiae and B. subtilis 87 and human milk fats in the oleaginous yeast Y. lipolytica 88 . The probiotic effects can also be mimicked by recreating the microbiome of breast milk through the addition of microbial populations to formula 89 . The actual effects of these supplements would benefit from further studies in humans.

Eggs have a larger and more complex group of proteins that are responsible for their unique texture and taste. However, there have been efforts to recombinantly express different proteins, initially for allergenicity and protein studies 90 , 91 , and more recently as food ingredients 92 , 93 . Furthermore, there have also commercial efforts to produce egg alternative products made up of multiple egg proteins. This includes the start-up EVERY, which launched an egg white product made from recombinantly produced proteins in 2021.

One animal-based ingredient that has already been largely replaced by precision fermentation is rennet, an enzyme mixture containing chymosin found in the lining of the stomach of young ruminants. Commercial chymosin is now mostly produced in Aspergillus niger , which has allowed many kinds of cheese to become suitable for vegetarians as well as reducing the price, benefiting cheese makers 94 .

Microorganisms in animal feed

The use of microbes in animal feed first appeared over a century ago when brewery by-products were used to supplement feed by Max Delbruck. More recently, using microorganisms as a main or supplemental nutritional source has become established as an industry norm in both animal agriculture 95 and aquaculture 23 . This is due to an increase in regulatory ease and technological capabilities as well as growing pressures for cost and ecological efficiency 96 .

Many different microbial species have been investigated for the benefits in both animal health and production output 23 , 24 . Different microbial species each have their own limitations and advantages and thus need to be matched to desired functions and livestock 23 , 24 . Furthermore, there are different delivery options- including as a sole nutritional source 23 , as nutritional additive 24 or can act as probiotics 97 , 98 .

Live microbial supplements can act as probiotics and can either be species delivered to colonise the gut and integrate to improve the existing microflora, or to help balance the existing microbiota by modulating the pH, feed existing microorganisms and to defend against pathogenic species. Using probiotics in animal feed is becoming an industry norm as it has large therapeutic gains while reducing the need for drugs and antibiotics. In addition, the use of probiotics is shown to improve feed uptake, immune response and stress tolerance 97 , 98 , 99 . It has also been linked to increased growth, biomass and milk production 97 .

The new generation of SCP-based animal feed uses engineered microorganisms nutritionally tailored to the target animal 28 , 78 , 100 . Moreover, it can be also employed as a nutraceutical and therapeutic platform such as in the previously commercial omega-3 enriched Yarrowia biomass employed in Verlasso® salmon 101 , and the efforts in the start-ups such as Cyanofeed (see Table  1 ). Vitamins, fatty acids and phytonutrients have been successfully delivered through feed 28 . Finally, engineering organisms to utilise waste substances as carbon sources can greatly lower the ecological footprint of highly polluting animal agriculture industries 28 , 29 .

Precision fermentation of food ingredients and additives

One of the most developed uses of engineered microbes in our current food ecosystem is the production of ingredients and additives. For decades, microorganisms have been selected and improved to maximise the synthesis of molecules of interest, first by random mutagenesis and selection and then by genetic and metabolic engineering in a practice called precision fermentation 16 , 21 . A paradigmatic example is the production of vitamin B2, where chemical synthesis was substituted by fermentation in the 90s 102 . The yields and productivities of the processes are key to determining economic feasibility and therefore, metabolic engineering is playing an important role not only in increasing yields but also enabling the production of heterologous chemicals 22 . Interestingly, the use of genetically engineered strains to produce specific compounds is generally well accepted by consumers. This is because, by the end of the fermentation process, the molecules of interest are extracted and purified. They are therefore typically free of recombinant cells or DNA, allowing them to be labelled as natural products 103 .

While most nutraceuticals and additives with health benefits are still made by chemical synthesis or plant extraction, an increasing number of them are now bio-manufactured by microorganisms 4 . Some of these nutraceuticals include water-soluble vitamins (vitamin B complex and vitamin C) as well as fat-soluble vitamins (vitamin A/D/E and vitamin K) 20 . Other nutraceuticals made by engineered microbes have been reviewed elsewhere 21 , and the list includes omega-3 fatty acids, polyphenols such as resveratrol and naringenin, carotenoids such as beta-carotene or Astaxanthin, and non-proteinogenic amino acids such as GABA and beta-alanine. Other ingredients made by microbes are intended to improve the organoleptic properties of the food to which they are added to, improving taste, odour, colour and feel. Flavour enhancers such as glutamate (MSG), inosine monophosphate (IMP) and guanosine monophosphate (GMP) are made by microbes and contribute to the desired umami flavour 104 . Microbes have also been engineered to produce sweeteners such as stevia-derived molecules, xylitol or erythritol 105 , 106 , 107 . More exotic, hoppy flavours have been engineered into yeast to make tastier beer 65 . Odours and aroma compounds have been made by microbial processes like those of rose (2PE) 108 , orange/lemon (limonene) 109 , mint (menthol) 110 , peach (gamma-decalactone) 111 , among many others.

In addition, coloured molecules have been synthesised by microbes with the intention to be used as pigments for food and beverages. Some examples include orange (beta-carotene, canthaxanthin), red (lycopene, astaxanthin, prodigiosin), yellow (riboflavin), blue (phycocyanin), purple (violacein) and black (melanin) colourants 19 .

Obstacles and future perspectives

Technical obstacles.

To have a fully incorporated use of microbes in food, there are some technical difficulties that must be overcome. First, one of the main nutritional drawbacks is the high content of nucleic acids—namely RNA content. Ingestion of excessive quantities of nucleic acids particularly purines, increases the quantity of uric acid in the body which is a risk factor for gout and renal calculi as well as a strong risk factor for Metabolic Syndrome and cardiovascular disease 112 . This can be partially mitigated through processing methods, including heating and purification as employed by current single-cell protein manufacturers 113 , 114 . In the future, it would be possible to envisage an inducible method engineered into microbes to self-purify excess nucleic acids.

As a sole food source, the odours and textures of pure microbial cell mass have been postulated to be unsuited to human palate, however this setback could be improved through breeding or engineering in taste with genetic modifications or by creating mixtures or co-cultures to have novel and pleasant tastes 16 , 115 .

Many microorganisms, especially yeast, fungal and algal clades also have thick cell walls. In many cases, this is an important contributor of fibre in the diet. However, for some SCP, the thick cell wall can limit the number of nutrients that can be taken up and can itself be indigestible. Therefore, it may be necessary to treat the SCP using heat and/or mechanical and enzymatic processes, improving nutrient bioavailability 114 .

Food safety

Microbial-based foods and ingredients must go through regulatory approvals, which are stricter when new or engineered species are used. Regulatory bodies assess safety and authorize foods in a country-specific manner. For example, the FDA and EFSA are the main regulatory bodies in the USA and Europe, respectively. Some strategies to facilitate the obtention of approvals for microbial foods include the use of approved organisms and processes, limiting the application to animal feeding, purification of products, and removing foreign DNA and living cells.

The safety of the foods must also be considered for each different species. There has already been extensive investigation into some of the main target species that have confirmed their food safety both for fermentation, ingredient production and SCP use. Special attention must be paid to possible contamination in the process and to the potential production of endo and exotoxins that cause allergic and adverse reactions when ingested. Some toxins may be removed by simple heat or chemical treatments. However, through stringent strain selection 116 , strain engineering 117 and correct fermentation technologies, contamination and toxin production can be prevented or eliminated.

Consumer acceptance

One of the largest challenges of deploying single-cell proteins and genetically engineered microorganisms in food is consumer acceptance. Genetic modification is still under strict regulations, which differ between countries with some being particularly strict on introducing food with modified genetic information. Moreover, a large percentage of people still do not accept the idea of eating genetically modified materials. With the increasing awareness of improving the ecological aspect of diets 118 , this attitude might be changing as seen with the popularity with lab-grown meats and some synthetic meat and milk alternatives; however, these products are still uncommon in a commercial setting and therefore not incorporated in the average household’s diet.

To promote consumption, it is thus crucial to take the preparation and cultural context of microbial foods into account. Education and marketing can help counteract unfamiliarity and lack of consumption experience 119 . In addition, the design of microbial foods should consider the need to fulfil religious or cultural values, such as kosher or halal requirements 120 .

Economic barriers

A large problem of deploying SCP is the capital expenditure needed to expand the technologies and market the new food source. Maintenance costs and substrate usage also limit profitability. Because of the costs incurred for prototype development, one of the initial SCP projects by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) was abandoned when it failed to compete with cheap agriculture, especially with modified soybeans 10 . However, more recent technologies seem to suggest that building a plant for growing microbes could now be economically feasible 121 , which is facilitated by the optimisation of the growing conditions 122 , advanced fermentation technologies 123 , and higher yields achieved by engineered microbes 100 . Another economic barrier for commercialisation is the lengthy and expensive process associated with obtaining the necessary regulatory and safety approvals. Although dependent on price, variety and transportation, the employment of waste streams also has the potential to lower the process cost and simultaneously increase sustainability 10 . However, this is harder to introduce to the market as it is not fully understood whether the nutritional qualities of the product would be affected.

Taken together all the information discussed above, there is an obvious interest in developing more microbial-based foods and ingredients, as seen by the increased number of related academic publications, conferences, companies and commercial products. This is in part encouraged by the consumer demand for healthier and more sustainable foods.

Synthetic biology and microbial strain engineering broaden the horizons of microbial foods that can be designed, enabling the creation of desired nutritional profiles, aroma compounds, flavours and textures, all of which can build towards personalised nutrition (Fig.  3 ). To translate this technological capability into sustainable commercial products, the public perception of microbial foods must continue to change and the legislation must facilitate the implementation of these novel processes while maintaining high safety standards. The expansion and normalisation of microbial foods will increase production volumes, decreasing costs and optimising the efficiency of the technology. Reduced costs can then aid the development of microbial processes in less developed areas of the planet, which often need to improve nutrition. Looking at the future, engineered microbes are expected to play a role in delivering food where traditionally inaccessible, such as in disaster relief, deserts or even in space 124 , 125 .

A schematic showing the obstacles and future developments in the path to adopting widespread use of Microbial foods. In the beige circle the main obstacles are shown, including the economic viability of some processes, the consumer acceptance of some products, especially GMOs and, in some cases, the presence of undesired molecules. Future developments, shown in the blue arrow, aim to improve microbial-based foods and overcome these obstacles, and include producing nutritionally complete whole foods, alternatives to animal products (meat, dairy, eggs), and ingredients (like flavours or nutraceuticals) that can be made in an affordable and sustainable way, perhaps using waste or CO 2 as carbon sources.

In conclusion, if there is continued innovation and microbial foods are designed with sustainability and ethics in mind, they have the potential to revolutionise current food systems. This microbial food revolution could be key in designing future-proof strategies to face the health and environmental challenges of the future.

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R.L.-A. received funding from BBSRC (BB/R01602X/1, BB/T013176/1, BB/T011408/1–19-ERACoBioTech- 33 SyCoLim), British Council 527429894, Newton Advanced Fellowship (NAF\R1\201187), Yeast4Bio Cost Action 18229, European Research Council (ERC) (DEUSBIO–949080) and the Bio-based Industries Joint (PERFECOAT- 101022370) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.

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The effectiveness of the food and beverage industry’s self-established uniform nutrition criteria at improving the healthfulness of food advertising viewed by Canadian children on television

• Monique Potvin Kent 1 ,
• Jennifer R. Smith 1 ,
• Elise Pauzé 1 &
• Mary L’Abbé 2  

International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity volume  15 , Article number:  57 ( 2018 ) Cite this article

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Food and beverage marketing has been identified as an environmental determinant of childhood obesity. The purpose of this study is to assess whether the Uniform Nutrition Criteria established and implemented by companies participating in the self-regulatory Canadian Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CAI) had an impact on the healthfulness of food and beverage advertising during television programming with a high share of children in the viewing audience.

Data on food advertising were licensed from Numeris for 27 television stations for Toronto for May 2013 and May 2016 (i.e. before and after the implementation of the nutrition criteria). First, television programs that had a child audience share of ≥35% (when the nutrition criteria applied) were identified. Ten percent of these programs were randomly selected and included in the study. After identifying the food and beverage ads that aired during these programs, the nutritional information of advertised products was collected and their healthfulness was assessed using the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) and UK Nutrient Profile Models (NPM). The healthfulness of CAI products advertised in May 2013 and 2016 was compared using Chi-square tests.

Although in May 2016, products advertised by CAI companies were more likely to be categorized as healthier by the UK NPM (21.5% versus 6.7%, χ 2 (1) = 12.1, p  = 000) compared to those advertised in May 2013, the frequency of advertised products considered less healthy in May 2016 remained very high (78.5%) and comparable to that of products advertised by companies not participating in the CAI (80.0% categorized as less healthy). Furthermore, in both May 2013 and May 2016, 99–100% of CAI advertisements featured products deemed excessive in either fat (total, saturated, trans), sodium or free sugars according to the PAHO NPM.

Conclusions

Despite modest improvements noted after the implementation of the CAI’s Uniform Nutrition Criteria, the healthfulness of most products advertised during programs with a high share of children in the viewing audience remains poor. Mandatory regulations are needed.

Food and beverage marketing has been identified as one factor driving the upward trend in global obesity rates among children [ 1 , 2 ]. Indeed, an extensive body of research has shown that children’s exposure to this marketing, much of which promotes food and beverages of low nutritional quality, influences their dietary preferences, purchasing behaviors, and consumption patterns [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 ]. Based on this evidence, the World Health Organization has urged countries to develop policies to protect children from the marketing of unhealthy food and beverages [ 5 ].

In Canada, childhood obesity has tripled over the last three decades and currently more than 30% of children and youth have excess weight or obesity [ 6 ]. In the province of Quebec, commercial advertising to children has been banned since the 1980s. In all other provinces in Canada, food and beverage marketing to children is self-regulated by industry. In 2007, the Canadian Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative (CAI) was implemented by 16 food companies. Currently 18 companies participate including Coca Cola, Danone, General Mills, McDonald’s, and Nestlé, among others (see Table  1 ) [ 7 ]. Under this initiative, eleven companies have committed to not advertise to children less than 12 years old while the remainder have pledged to exclusively advertise “better-for-you” products (as defined by the companies themselves) in various media including television [ 8 ]. Each company established what constituted advertising to children, determined its own nutrition criteria defining which products are healthy enough to advertise to children, and set child audience thresholds that range from 25 to 35% (i.e. the percentage of the audience that must consist of children under 12 years of age before the pledges apply). For example, Hershey Canada has pledged to not advertise at all during television programs where children make-up 30% of the audience, while Kellogg’s has committed to only advertise “better-for-you” products, such as Froot Loops cereal, when children make-up 35% or more of the viewing audience [ 8 ].

Since its implementation, the CAI has been criticized for low participation rates, high child audience thresholds, lax nutritional standards, and very narrow definitions of what constitutes advertising to children [ 9 ]. Research in Canada has concluded that the CAI is insufficiently protecting children from food and beverage marketing on television and the Internet [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ]. Indeed, Canadian children (outside of Quebec) view on average between 4 and 7 food ads per hour per station [ 15 , 16 ], and the majority of products advertised are unhealthy and high in sugar, fat and sodium [ 16 ]. Evaluations conducted before and after the implementation of the CAI have shown that these self-regulatory pledges are not limiting children’s exposure to food and beverage advertising on television. In fact, children’s exposure to this type of advertising increased between 2006 and 2009 [ 11 ] and the healthfulness of advertised products on children’s specialty channels did not improve [ 9 ].

In 2014, Uniform Nutrition Criteria were developed by participating CAI companies and these were fully implemented by December 2015 [ 7 ]. These criteria, based on 18 different nutritional recommendations, specify nutrition criteria for 8 product categories including: milk and alternatives, grains, soups, meat and alternatives, vegetables and fruit, occasional snacks, mixed dishes, and meals on the go. No nutrition criteria were established for chocolate, candy, and soft drinks because, as stated by the CAI, these foods would not be advertised to children under the age of 12. Nutrients to limit, as identified in the Uniform Nutrition Criteria, include calories, saturated fat, trans fat, sodium, and total sugars while nutrients to encourage include vitamin D, calcium, potassium, and fibre [ 7 ]. A total of 26 products are listed as compliant with the Uniform Nutrition Criteria and approved for advertising to children [ 8 ].

Though Advertising Standards Canada (ASC), the organization that administers the CAI, undertakes a yearly compliance review [ 8 ], no research to date has evaluated the impact of these new criteria using nutrient profile models used and accepted in the research community. The objective of this study was to fill this gap and assess whether the CAI Uniform Nutrition Criteria has improved the healthfulness of food/beverage advertising during television programming where children make-up a large share of the viewing audience. It was hypothesized that, after its implementation, the Uniform Nutrition Criteria would improve the healthfulness of the advertising seen by children during programming with a high share of children in the viewing audience. It was also hypothesized that the healthfulness of products advertised by CAI companies in May 2016 would be significantly better during television programs with a child audience share of at least 35%, where the new nutrition criteria applied, compared to television programs with a lower child audience share, where it did not.

A quasi-experimental pre-post design with a control group was used in this study to compare the nutritional quality of foods/beverages advertised to children aged 2–11 when viewership of this age group was equal to or greater than 35% in May 2013 (before the development of the Uniform Nutrition Criteria) and in May 2016 (after its implementation). The control group consisted of the nutritional quality of food/beverage advertisements in May 2016 when child viewership ranged from 15 to 34.9%.

Television ratings data were obtained under license for 19 food categories from Numeris for May 2013 and May 2016 for 27 television stations (9 conventional and 18 speciality channels) for Toronto, the largest broadcast audience in Canada. These food categories (defined in Table  2 ) were selected as they are those that are the most advertised to children [ 9 , 12 , 17 ]. The month of May was selected as there are no holidays in this month that could potentially distort advertising expenditures.

Using Nielsen Media Research Borealis ™ analytical software, it was determined which television programs had a child viewership of 15 to 34.9% and which had a viewership of ≥35%. The lower limit of 15% was chosen because it is the child viewership threshold applied in the province of Quebec, where all commercial advertising to children under the age of 13 has been legally prohibited since 1980 [ 18 ]. Children included those between the ages of 2 and 11 as the CAI guidelines apply to children under 12 years of age. The ≥ 35% level was selected as most CAI companies ( n  = 15) have a viewership threshold of 35% meaning that 35% of the audience must consist of children 2–11 years old before the CAI pledges apply. A total of 1536 television programs in May 2013 and 1289 in May 2016 met the ≥35% child viewership criteria while 1832 programs met the 15–34.9% viewership criteria for May 2016 (Table  3 ). For reasons pertaining to feasibility including time and resource constraints, only 10 % of these program samples were selected using a random number generator and were included in study. Using Nielsen Media Research Spotwatch™ software, the food/beverage ads that appeared during the first 30 min of each of these programs were identified.

Each food advertisement was classified as a product ad (if a food and/or beverage were featured) or as a brand ad (if no specific product was featured). Each ad was also classified as to whether it belonged to a company participating in the CAI as of November 2016 (CAI) or not (non-CAI).

Nutritional analysis

The nutrition information of products featured in each ad was collected. Nutrition data for the foods advertised in May 2013 was taken from the Food Label Information Program (FLIP) [ 19 ] which is a branded food composition database. FLIP data from 2013 contains information on ~ 15,500 products from the four largest national retailers by sales (Loblaws, Sobeys, Metro, Safeway), representing approximately 75% of the Canadian food retail market share. Nutrition information for products advertised in May 2013 not found in the FLIP database (essentially fast food and restaurant foods) and those advertised in May 2016 was collected, in order of priority, from Canadian company websites, the Nutrition Fact table on the product found in store, U.S. company websites, or the Canadian Nutrient File.

Collected information included: calories (kcal), total fat (g), saturated fat (g), trans fat (g), sodium (mg), carbohydrate (g), fibre (g), sugars (g), and protein (g) per stated serving size. The specific density (g/mL) of beverages was used to convert servings from millilitres to grams [ 20 ]. All nutrition information was then converted to 100 g servings.

The healthfulness of advertised foods and beverages was assessed using two nutrient profile models namely, the Pan American Health Organization Nutrient Profile Model (PAHO NPM) [ 21 ] and the UK Nutrient Profile Model (UK NPM) [ 22 ]. The former was selected as it considers only negative nutrients (e.g. sodium, free sugars, total fat, saturated fat, and trans fat) and classifies foods more stringently while the latter was selected as it considers both positive and negative nutrients and has been shown to classify foods less stringently and consistently with decisions made by dietitians [ 23 ]. The UK NPM has also shown to have good construct, convergent, and discriminate validity [ 24 ].

The PAHO NPM was used to classify advertised food/beverages according to whether they were excessive in total fat (≥30% of total energy from total fat), saturated fat (≥ 10% of total energy), trans fats (≥ 1% of total energy), sodium (≥ 1 mg per kcal) or free sugars (≥ 10% of total energy) [ 21 ]. Foods were also classified as excessive or not in at least one of these nutrients. The PAHO NPM was modified by applying it to all foods, including unprocessed foods, rather than applying it to processed or ultra-processed foods only. The free sugar content of foods was estimated using formulas suggested by the PAHO NPM [ 21 ].

The UK NPM, was also used to assess the healthfulness of advertised foods in May 2013 and May 2016 using the three-step process developed by the Food Standards Agency in the UK [ 22 ]. This model scores foods based on their content in energy, saturated fat, total sugar, sodium, fruit/vegetable/nut, fibre, and protein per 100 g serving. Foods that score 4 points or more and beverages that score 1 point or more are categorized as ‘less healthy’ [ 22 ]. Foods that do not fall into this category are defined as ‘healthier’.

When multiple food products were shown in the same advertisement, the ad was classified as excessive in fat, sodium and/or sugar as assessed by the PAHO NPM or as less healthy according the UK NPM if it featured at least one product that was categorized as such.

Data analysis

Nielsen’s 19 food categories were condensed by grouping similar products to create 9 more meaningful categories. These included: cold cereal; candy and chocolate; cakes, cookies and ice cream; juice, soft drinks (regular and diet), sports drinks and energy drinks; pizza; compartment snack foods and portable snacks; restaurants (fast food and non-fast food); cheese; and yogurt. The frequency of ads by food categories and CAI participation were tabulated and the percentage change between May 2013 and May 2016 was calculated. Statistical tests (Mann-Whitney U test) compared the energy, total fat, saturated fat, trans fat, carbohydrates, sugar, protein, fibre, and sodium content per 100 g serving of foods and beverages featured in May 2013 advertisements to those in May 2016 for CAI and non-CAI companies. When ads featured multiple products, the nutrition information for the least healthy product as assessed by the UK NPM (i.e. the product with the highest score) was used for this analysis. If several products within the same ad tied for the highest score, one product was randomly selected using a random number generator. Chi-square tests were conducted to determine if the healthfulness of advertised foods as classified by the PAHO and UK NPMs during programming with a high child audience share changed between May 2013 and May 2016. The Mann-Whitney U and Chi-square tests described above were conducted for the ≥35% child viewership sample. Further comparisons were made between products advertised by CAI companies when child viewership was 15–34.9% and ≥ 35% in May 2016. The healthfulness of products advertised in May 2013 and May 2016 when child viewership was at least 35% was also compared by food category using Fisher Exact Tests.

Product versus brand advertising

In May 2016, 0.5% ( n  = 2) and 2.1% ( n  = 7) of total ads were brand advertisements in the 15–34.9% and ≥ 35% child viewership samples, respectively. The remainder were products ads. There were no brand ads in the 35% viewership sample in May 2013.

Frequency of food/beverage advertising per food category in May 2013 and in May 2016 (≥35% sample)

Overall, the frequency of food/beverage advertising was 38.0% higher in May 2016 compared to May 2013. The most frequently advertised product categories in May 2016 (as shown in Table  4 ) were restaurants (33.8% of total ads; 92.9% of which were fast food), candy and chocolate (18.0%), and cold cereal (15.3%). Among beverage categories advertised in May 2016 ( n  = 14), 81.3% were for juices, drinks, and nectars, 12.5% were for regular soft drinks, and 6.3% were for energy drinks (data not shown). In total, yogurt advertising was up by 217%, cold cereal advertising was up approximately 113%, while cheese advertising was up 81%, snack advertising was up 33%, and restaurant advertising was up 40% in May 2016 compared to May 2013. Advertising for fast food restaurants exclusively increased by 40.0% from May 2013 ( n  = 75) to May 2016 ( n  = 105) (data not shown).

Among CAI companies, the frequency of food/beverage advertisements was 55.8% higher in May 2016 compared to May 2013. The CAI product categories that were the most frequently advertised in May 2016 were cold cereals (27.3%), restaurants (19.3%; all of which were for fast food) and candy and chocolate (16.6%). The largest increases in CAI advertising between May 2013 and May 2016 were for yogurt (533%), cheese (125%), cold cereals (113%), and juice and soft drinks (50%). Restaurant advertising, comprised entirely of fast food advertisements, increased 38.5% in May 2016 compared to May 2013.

Nutrient content per 100 g of foods/beverages advertised in May 2013 and May 2016 (≥35% sample)

Overall, products advertised in May 2016 when child viewership was at least 35% contained more sodium (U = 44,057, z = 2.41, p  = .016, r  = 0.10), trans fat (U = 45,950, z = 3.78, p  = .000, r  = 0.16), fibre (U = 44,953, z = 3.12, p  = 002, r  = 0.13), and protein (U = 46,308, z = 3.58, p = .000, r  = 0.15) per 100 g serving compared to those advertised in May 2013 (Table  5 ). In May 2016, products advertised by CAI companies contained fewer calories (U = 8962, z = − 2.92, p  = .004, r  = − 0.17) and total fat (U = 9628, z = − 2.03, p  = .042, r  = − 0.12) per 100 g serving than in May 2013.

Healthfulness of foods advertised in May 2013 and May 2016 (≥35% sample)

Overall in 2016, according to the PAHO criteria, 68.4% of advertisements featured foods/beverages that were excessive in free sugar, 59.8% were excessive in total fat, 59.5% were excessive in sodium, 50.3% were excessive in saturated fat, and 29.1% were excessive in trans fats as shown in Table  6 . According to the PAHO criteria, 100% of food advertisements in 2016 featured products classified as excessive in at least one of these nutrients while according to the UK NPM, 79.1% of ads featured products that were classified as ‘less healthy’. In May 2016, it was 1.5 times more likely that food advertisements were deemed excessive in total fat (49.8% versus 59.8%, χ 2 (1) = 5.64, p  = .018) compared to those that aired in May 2013. Advertisements in May 2016 were also 1.7 times more likely to be deemed excessive in trans fat (19.9% versus 29.1%, χ 2 (1) = 6.25, p  = .012) and sodium (46.5% versus 59.5%, χ 2 (1) = 9.48, p  = .002) compared to May 2013. Conversely, advertisements in May 2016 were 1.7 times less likely to feature food deemed less healthy by the UK NPM compared to May 2013 (86.7% versus 79.1%, χ 2 (1) = 5.48, p  = .019).

Among CAI companies, it was 2.9 and 1.8 times more likely that advertisements airing in May 2016 featured a product classified as excessive in trans fat (10.0% versus 24.2%, χ 2 (1) = 9.69,p = .002) and sodium (44.2% versus 58.6%, χ 2 (1) = 6.10, p  = .014), respectively, compared to those advertised in May 2013. In both time periods, 99–100% of CAI advertisements featured products that were classified as excessive in at least one nutrient according to the PAHO NPM however the frequency of advertisements featuring less healthy products as per the UK NPM was significantly lower in May 2016 compared to May 2013 (93.3% versus 78.5%, χ 2 (1) = 12.1, p  = .000).

Healthfulness of products advertised in May 2013 and May 2016 by food category (≥35% sample)

Cold cereals advertised in May 2016, all of which belonged to CAI companies, were more likely to be excessive in sodium compared to those advertised in May 2013 (98.0% versus 33.3%, p = .000) As for restaurants, foods advertised by CAI companies (i.e. McDonald’s) in May 2016 were less likely to be deemed less healthy (88.5% versus 42.9%, p  = .010) compared to those advertised in May 2013. This was also true for the total sample of restaurant advertisements (81.3% versus 63.6%, p = .010) (data not shown).

Nutrient content per 100 g of foods/beverages advertised by CAI companies in May 2016 (≥35% vs. 15–34.9% sample)

According to Mann-Whitney U tests, foods/beverages advertised by CAI companies contained more sugar (Mdn = 10.9 g and 20.0 g, U = 24,994, z = 2.62, p  = .009, r  = 0.13) and protein (Mdn = 5.0 g and 6.7 g, U = 24,212, z = 1.99, p  = .047, r  = 0.10) per 100 g serving when child viewership was 35% or higher compared to 15–34.5% (Table  7 ).

Healthfulness of foods advertised by CAI companies in May 2016 (≥35% versus 15–34.9% sample)

There were no statistically significant differences in the healthfulness of products advertised by CAI companies in May 2016 as per the PAHO and UK NPMs when child viewership was ≥35% and 15–34.9% (Table  8 ).

Impact of the Uniform Nutrition Criteria

As hypothesised, when using the less stringent UK NPM, the products advertised during television programming with a high child audience share were marginally healthier in May 2016 (when the Uniform Nutrition Criteria applied) compared to those advertised in May 2013 (when it did not). Despite these modest improvements, more than 75% of all food advertisements featured products categorized as ‘less healthy’ and all of them featured products deemed excessive in either fat (total, saturated, trans), sodium or free sugars according to the more stringent PAHO NPM. When we exclusively examined CAI advertisements, results were similar and the overall healthfulness of products advertised in May 2016 was comparable to that of non-CAI companies to which the Uniform Nutrition Criteria did not apply. Though we attempted to compare the healthfulness of products advertised between May 2013 and May 2016 by food category, the sample size of many categories was too small to reliably test differences. Some results suggest that the healthfulness of some product categories advertised by CAI companies may have improved (e.g. fast food) while others suggest a worsening (e.g. cold cereals).

Our results also showed that contrary to what was hypothesized, foods advertised by CAI companies in May 2016 were not healthier according to both NPMs when child viewership was at least 35% compared to those advertised when child viewership was 15–34.9%. Together, these results suggest that the CAI’s Uniform Nutrition Criteria has not been particularly effective at improving the healthfulness of food/beverage advertising viewed by children aged 2 to 11 on television. This finding is consistent with previous research in Canada [ 9 , 10 , 11 ], the United States [ 25 , 26 , 27 ] and other countries [ 28 ] which has shown that self-regulation has not led to meaningful changes in the healthfulness of products advertised to children on broadcast television. Given this lack of effectiveness, many national and international organizations have called for the introduction of statutory regulations [ 5 , 29 ]. Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act that prohibits commercial advertising to children under 13 years is often lauded as a model for other countries thinking of developing child advertising restrictions [ 30 ]. Indeed, research has shown this law is having some positive impact on children’s exposure to food and beverage advertising [ 12 , 16 ]. For instance, some children in Quebec are exposed to fewer food/beverage advertisements on television and this advertising features fewer promotional techniques designed to appeal to children [ 12 ]. However, since the Consumer Protection Act was not specifically designed to restrict unhealthy food/beverage advertising, children in Quebec are still exposed to a large volume of food and beverage ads that target adolescents and adults and the healthfulness of advertised products are only marginally healthier than those advertised to children outside Quebec [ 16 ].

To effectively protect children from unhealthy food/beverage advertising, robust nutrition criteria defining which products can be advertised to them need to be adopted. Consideration also needs to be given to limiting children’s exposure to the promotion of brands that are largely associated with unhealthy foods (even if an ad features a healthy product), as the effect of advertising likely extends to other products of the same brand, regardless of their healthfulness. Indeed, research has shown that branding affects children’s food preferences and choices [ 31 , 32 ]. An experimental study carried out by Boyland et al. [ 33 ], for example, found that the exposure to television advertisements featuring a healthier fast food meal led to the increased liking for fast food among children but did not result in healthier food choices made in a hypothetical situation. One way of limiting the promotion of brands associated with unhealthy products to children would be to only permit the advertising of brands whose entire product line meets the established nutrition criteria. Alternatively, it has also been suggested that food brands be classified as healthy or unhealthy based on the five most purchased products sold under that brand [ 34 ]. Though we documented a slight increase in brand advertising in May 2016 compared to May 2013, one may expect companies to increase such advertising if more stringent self-regulatory (or statutory) restrictions solely based on nutrient profiling were to be implemented (and adhered to).

Some of our results make one question whether the CAI companies are, in fact, complying with the Uniform Nutrition Criteria. To illustrate, in our May 2016 study sample when child viewership was at least 35%, 15 candy, 16 chocolate bar, and 1 soft drink ads belonging to CAI companies were identified despite their pledge to not advertise these products to children under the age of 12 when child audience thresholds were equal to or exceeded 35%. Some of these non-compliant ads aired on child and youth oriented channels such as YTV, Teletoon, and Much Music during programs that could be expected to appeal to children. For example, M&M’s candy and McDonald’s beverages (including a fruit smoothie, Coca Cola, and iced coffee) were advertised on May 9, 2016 during Just for Laughs Gags airing at 8 pm on YTV where the share of child viewers reached 37.3%. Four non-compliant advertisements (two for M&Ms., one for Skittles and one for McDonald’s beverages) also aired on May 14, 2016 during Mighty Hercules between 9 and 9:30 pm on Teletoon where children made up 42.1% of the audience. Advertisements belonging to seven companies that have pledged to abstain from advertising when child viewership reaches 25–35% were also identified in our sample. Six companies who pledged to only advertise ‘healthier’ foods  advertised products not specifically listed as compliant with the Uniform Nutrition Criteria. Since this study did not assess whether these unlisted products met these nutrition criteria, we cannot say whether the latter six companies are complying with their voluntary commitment. Since ad time is purchased based on projected audience estimates, companies would likely argue that they are complying with the CAI and could not have known that child audiences would be higher than projected. Though this may be true, companies could choose to purchase ad time based on stricter child audience thresholds (also known as “guardbanding”) to increase the likelihood of true compliance [ 35 ]. The examples of non-compliance cited above, whereby candy and sugar-sweetened beverages were advertised during children’s programming, also suggest at the very least that some companies are not complying with the spirit of the CAI. Our findings differ from those published by Advertising Standards Canada (ASC) [ 8 ]. ASC’s 2016 compliance report identified no instances of non-compliance during spot checks that examined 48 h of children’s television programs airing on three child-targeted channels (Teletoon, YTV, and Nickelodeon) during select time periods (e.g., YTV was checked from 6 am to 9 am on weekdays and 6 am-12 pm on Saturday) [ 8 ]. The instances of non-compliance identified in our study were either identified on channels different from those checked by the ASC (e.g. Much Music, CTV) or aired outside the time frames that were examined (e.g. on YTV, after 6 pm). This discrepancy highlights the inadequacy of current monitoring activities led by advertising standard agencies that are industry-funded. Independent monitoring is clearly needed to assess the impact of food/beverage advertising restrictions as well as company compliance.

In addition to non-compliance, the healthfulness of products advertised by the CAI may have only been modestly better in May 2016 compared to May 2013 as measured by UK and PAHO NPMs because the Uniform Nutrition Criteria themselves are not very stringent. For example, over a third (10) of the 26 products that are listed as compliant and approved for advertising to children by the CAI are sugar-sweetened breakfast cereals and include Froot Loops, Frosted Flakes, Alpha Bit Cereal, and Lucky Charms. Fruit flavored snacks such as Fruit by the Foot and Fruit Gushers, whose most predominant ingredient is sugar [ 36 , 37 ], are also among the approved products. Given that many of these products are considered less healthy by the UK NPM (and would be by any other sound nutritional standards), it is not surprising that most CAI advertisements would still be considered unhealthy after the implementation of the Uniform Nutrition Criteria during programming on which it applies. For example, 7 of the 8 compliant CAI products advertised in May 2016 in our sample were deemed less healthy according to the UK NPM. Even if CAI companies were to adopt more stringent nutrition criteria, the voluntary nature of the initiative would still limit its effectiveness in improving the healthfulness of products advertised to children.

Though not related to the CAI or the Uniform Nutrition Criteria, it is interesting to note that our study identified four Red Bull advertisements (one in May 2016 and three in May 2013) during programs where child viewership reached 35% even though Health Canada regulations prohibit the advertising of energy drinks to children [ 38 ]. Similar results have been found on 2 of 10 Canadian child preferred websites where ads for Red Bull appeared on websites where children aged 2–11 constituted more than 45% of website visitors [ 39 ]. The promotion of energy drinks to children is worrisome given the adverse health effects associated with their consumption including anxiety, sleep disturbances, cardiovascular and gastro-intestinal symptoms, and even seizures and death in some rare cases [ 40 , 41 ]. Interestingly, Red Bull GmbH is a member of the Canadian Beverage Association, an industry interest group that claims that all its members “voluntarily commit to not advertise energy drinks in programming … whose primary target audience is children” (i.e. when children under 12 years constitute more than 35% of the audience) [ 42 , 43 ]. The energy drink ads found in our sample are further evidence that voluntary pledges made by industry are ineffective in protecting children.

This study also found that the frequency of food/beverage advertisements was higher in May 2016 compared to May 2013 during programs where children made-up 35% or more of the viewing audience. During this programming, there were on average of 1.6 food/beverage ads per 30-min program in May 2013 while in May 2016, there were 2.6 ads per program. The frequency of ads belonging to CAI companies was also higher in May 2016 (1.4 ads/program) compared to May 2013 (0.8 ads/program). The increase in frequency may be due to a rise in total advertising during television programs though what remains clear is that children’s potential exposure to food/beverage advertising on television has increased.

Strengths and limitations

This study is the first to evaluate the CAI Uniform Nutrition Criteria. Its strengths include the use of Numeris and Nielsen Media Research data and analytical software. Further, this study also applied two nutrient profile models, the PAHO and UK NPMs, which provided a comprehensive assessment of the healthfulness of products advertised to children. Though the UK NPM offered good reliability and validity, it is currently being reviewed to more accurately reflect the latest dietary guidelines, particularly as it pertains to sugar [ 44 ]. The use of the 2013 FLIP data was also a strength given that it coincided with the May 2013 advertising data. However, it did not include nutritional information for fast food therefore this data had to be drawn from 2016 data. Any fast food reformulation between 2013 and 2016 would therefore not be accounted for in our data. This research was also based on the advertising of 19 food categories frequently advertised to children on Canadian television stations. Therefore, our findings cannot be generalized to other food categories, other media, or to non-Canadian television stations. A final limitation is that our research does not specifically evaluate individual company compliance; it is therefore difficult to determine whether the Uniform Nutrition Criteria are to blame for the poor nutritional quality of food advertising to children or whether it is a question of companies not complying with the criteria (or both).

This study adds to the body of evidence showing that industry self-regulation does not lead to substantive improvements in food/beverage advertising directed at children on television, further emphasizing the need for statutory restrictions. To protect children, food/beverage restrictions based on stringent nutrition criteria need to be adopted. The instances of non-compliance cited in this study also highlight the need for effective third-party monitoring to hold food and beverage companies accountable.

Abbreviations

Advertising Standards Canada

Canadian Children’s Food and Beverage Advertising Initiative

Food label information program

Pan American Health Organization Nutrient Profile Model

United Kingdom Nutrient Profile Model

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Potvin Kent, M., Smith, J.R., Pauzé, E. et al. The effectiveness of the food and beverage industry’s self-established uniform nutrition criteria at improving the healthfulness of food advertising viewed by Canadian children on television. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 15 , 57 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-018-0694-0

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Visual communication via the design of food and beverage packaging

• Charles Spence   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-2111-072X 1 &
• George Van Doorn 2 , 3 , 4  

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A rapidly growing body of empirical research has recently started to emerge highlighting the connotative and/or semiotic meanings that consumers typically associate with specific abstract visual design features, such as colours (either when presented individually or in combination), simple shapes/curvilinearity, and the orientation and relative position of those design elements on product packaging. While certain of our affective responses to such basic visual design features appear almost innate, the majority are likely established via the internalization of the statistical regularities of the food and beverage marketplace (i.e. as a result of associative learning), as in the case of round typeface and sweet-tasting products. Researchers continue to document the wide range of crossmodal correspondences that underpin the links between individual visual packaging design features and specific properties of food and drink products (such as their taste, flavour, or healthfulness), and the ways in which marketers are now capitalizing on such understanding to increase sales. This narrative review highlights the further research that is still needed to establish the connotative or symbolic/semiotic meaning(s) of particular combinations of design features (such as coloured stripes in a specific orientation), as opposed to individual cues in national food markets and also, increasingly, cross-culturally in the case of international brands.

Introduction

The visual design of food and beverage product packaging is at something of a crossroads. The field currently lies between the traditional art and design approach—often based on the intuitions of creative designers/marketers (and/or the results of focus groups or in-depth interviews; Cheskin, 1957 , 1967 , 1972 ; Lunt, 1981 ; Rapaille, 2007 ; Stern, 1981 )—and the more scientific approach to visual communication (i.e. presenting information graphically, such that it creates meaning concerning the product and its attributes/brand associations; Underwood, 1993 , 1999 ; Underwood & Klein, 2002 ; Underwood & Ozanne, 1998 ; Underwood et al., 2001 ). The latter approach is increasingly coming to be based on our growing understanding of, for example, the crossmodal correspondences (Spence, 2011 , 2012 ; Velasco & Spence, 2019a ; Velasco et al., 2016b ; cf. Batra et al., 2016 ; Schifferstein et al., 2013 ; Skaczkowski et al., 2016 ; Thomson, 2016 ).

Crossmodal correspondences refer to the tendency for a feature or attribute in one sensory modality (e.g. the colours pink and red) to be associated with a sensory feature in another sensory modality (e.g. a sweet taste; Ngo et al., 2013 ; Spence & Parise, 2012 ; Woods et al., 2013 ). Often, these connections between the senses are surprising, much like synaesthesia. Footnote 1 Indeed, some researchers have even suggested that synaesthetic inducer-concurrent relations could be used productively in the field of product design (Haverkamp, 2014 ) and/or product packaging/marketing (cf. Crisinel & Spence, 2012 ). That said, it is important to stress that the approach outlined here, based on crossmodal correspondences, differs from the phenomenon of synaesthesia in that the cross-sensory connections expressed in the former case tend to be shared between people, whereas synaesthesia is defined by the idiosyncratic nature of the inducer-concurrent mapping (see Deroy & Spence, 2013 ; Spence, 2019 ).

Visual design features are not only associated with taste/flavour attributes, Footnote 2 but with a range of connotative and semantic meanings (e.g. green = healthy) as typically assessed by research using the semantic differential technique (e.g. Morich, 1981 ; Snider & Osgood, 1969 ; see also Kunz et al., 2020 ). However, design cues (such as colour) are also used to set consumer expectations around product variant, brand, quality, and price (with black packaging often linked with luxury and premiumness, whereas orange is typically associated with cheapness; see Velasco & Spence, 2019c ; Wheatley, 1973 ). Given that we typically see colour in context (Elliot & Maier, 2012 ), and that context is (at times) influenced by culture, it might be thought that it would be unlikely for there to be many universal meanings associated with specific visual design features, such as a particular hue. That said, Tham et al. ( 2020 ) recently tested English monolinguals, Chinese bilinguals, and Chinese monolinguals in order to establish the conceptual associations that the different groups had with colour words and colour patches. According to their results, white was associated with purity, blue was related to water/sky themes, green was linked to healthy, purple was regal, and pink was linked to female for all three groups. At the same time, however, red and orange were associated with enthusiastic in Chinese, whereas red was associated with attraction in English. In other words, Tham et al.’s results highlight the existence of both a number of cross-cultural similarities and differences in the conceptual associations that different groups of people appear to hold with colours and colour words.

In this narrative review, and in relation to visual design, we are particularly interested in the crossmodal correspondences that may exist between various ‘abstract’ visual features Footnote 3 —colours (either when presented individually or in combination), simple shapes/curvilinearity, and the orientation and relative position of those design elements on the packaging—and the chemical senses (specifically taste/flavour). That said, several other connotative/symbolic/semantics associations of visual features/attributes (e.g. with healthy/natural, price, premiumness, etc.) will also be discussed (see Marques da Rosa et al., 2019 ). It is important to stress here that the term ‘abstract’ here refers to those features that are not associated with a specific object—while many abstract visual design features can be classed as simple stimuli, some patterns and face-like arrangements of lines might be considered complex. Hence, a patch of blue or a specific simple shape like a circle can be considered abstract design features, whereas the picture or outline of a hamburger, say, or the image of some fruit (see Piqueras-Fiszman et al., 2013 ), would not.

Visual design of product packaging based on crossmodal correspondences

While a handful of famous designers and marketers have long been lauded for their design choices that helped boost long-term brand/product success (see Cheskin, 1957 , 1967 , 1972 ; Dichter, 1975 ; Favre & November, 1979 ; Graham, 2016 ), it often appeared as though their decisions were based on intuition, sometimes backed-up by the results of consumer/focus-group research and in-depth interviews (Catterall & Maclaran, 2006 ; Lunt, 1981 ; Samuel, 2010 ). By contrast, an emerging body of empirical research on the crossmodal correspondences is now starting to help establish the connotative meaning of a variety of different abstract visual design features. In particular, a broad array of findings from experimental psychology have helped to establish the meanings (connotative and otherwise) that are associated with (or primed by) everything from colours (Déribéré, 1978 ; Ho et al., 2014 ; Spence, 2020a ; Van Doorn et al., 2014 ) to shapes (Dichter, 1971 ; Mirabito et al., 2017 ; Motoki & Velasco, 2021 ; Spence, 2012 , 2020b ; Spence & Van Doorn, 2017 ; Van Doorn et al., 2017 ; Velasco & Spence, 2019a ; see also Yarar et al., 2019 ), and from curvilinearity to the relative position of various design elements on product packaging (Romero & Biswas, 2016 ; Simmonds et al., 2018b ; Sundar & Noseworthy, 2014 ; Velasco et al., 2015c ).

Several of these visual cues, such as a curved line that, at least when presented horizontally, can be interpreted as a smile (Karim et al., 2017 ; Salgado-Montejo et al., 2015b ; cf. Kühn et al., 2014 ; Windhager et al., 2008 ) and patterns that may be interpreted as looking like a snake, spider, or scorpion (Hoehl et al., 2017 ; Isbell, 2006 ; Van Lee et al., 2013 ; LoBue, 2014 ; Spence, 2021a ) have been associated with possibly innate responses that are (often) attention-capturing, albeit typically negatively valenced in the latter cases. However, the meaning of many other visual design cues is much more likely to be established on the basis of associative learning. Footnote 4 Here it is also important to consider the commonly accepted symbolic and semiotic meaning of packaging design features in the food and beverage marketplace (e.g. cartoon portrait logos and their association, in Western cultures, with their often humorous messages; Barthel, 1989 ; Danesi, 2013 ; Garber et al., 2008 ; Gardner & Levy, 1955 ; Levy, 1959 ; Mick, 1986 ; Plasschaert, 1995 ).

Researchers have, for example, highlighted how the packaging of flavours/varieties of crisps/potato chips tend to be coloured in a specific (albeit somewhat arbitrary) manner (see Piqueras-Fiszman et al., 2012 ). Green packaging, for example, is often (though not always) associated with cheese and onion flavour in the UK, whereas blue packaging typically signals salt and vinegar instead (though see Visser, 2009 , p. 109, on the suggestion that salt and vinegar type crisps are colour-coded purple-pink). As another example, one might take the different colour associations with full-, half-, and low-fat milk that exist in different parts of the world (Simmonds & Spence, 2019 ). In Australia, for example, light milk (i.e. 2% milk) is often tagged with colour-coded caps that are light blue, while full-cream milk often has dark blue caps and labels (Cutolo, 2021 ). By contrast, in the UK, skimmed milk (containing less than 0.3% fat) is typically tagged with red caps, semi-skimmed milk (i.e. less than 2% fat) is tagged with green, and full-fat milk is tagged with the colour blue.

Different packaging label colours are sometimes also associated with different forms of animal protein (e.g. consider the different colour codes that are often used to help distinguish lamb, beef, poultry, and pork) in the fresh meat category (see Simmonds & Spence, 2019 , for a review). As such, a particular hue may be associated with a range of different attributes/qualities, and the extent to which different associations are primed may well ultimately depend on the context in which that colour happens to be presented (see Elliot & Maier, 2012 ; Motoki & Velasco, 2021 ), and the familiarity of the consumer with the conventions of the marketplace in which they happen to find themselves.

Such market-/country-specific differences also speak to the role of culture (built on habit and prior experience/exposure) in determining the meaning of colour in a given context (see also Jonauskaite et al., 2019a ). It is important to stress, though, that in contrast to the often-published observations of those in marketing who, over the years, have attempted to map out the abstract meaning of colours (e.g. Aslam, 2006 ; Jacobs et al., 1991 ; Wheatley, 1973 ), or emotional associations with colours (e.g. Adams & Osgood, 1973 ), colour is nearly always seen in context (Elliot & Maier, 2012 ; though see also Amsteus et al., 2015 ). Furthermore, researchers have recently argued for the importance of context in terms of a theory of semantic discriminability (Mukherjee et al., 2022 ; Schloss et al., 2021 ). According to the latter researchers, the mapping of a colour to a particular concept is often inferred on the basis of other stimuli in the comparison group, rather than being based directly on the strength of the underlying association. Footnote 5 Figure  1 frames Mukherjee and colleagues’ distinction in the context of the colour of potato chip packaging. What their theory means, in practice, is that sometimes the inferred colour–flavour mapping need not necessarily reflect the strongest colour–flavour association.

adapted from Schloss et al. ( 2018 )

Distinction between colour–flavour associations and inferred mappings, showing colour–flavour association strengths for flavours ‘Cheese and onion’ and ‘Salt and vinegar’ with crisp packaging colours blue, green, and pinkish-purple (thicker lines connecting flavours with colours indicate stronger associations). What such a hypothetical situation highlights is how the colour–flavour mapping may result from inference rather than direct association. Figure

Various abstract visual design features normally exist on product packaging alongside semantic information concerning brand name, product description, (any) product imagery, and/or possibly also serving suggestions (Rebollar et al., 2012 ; Simmonds & Spence, 2019 ; Thomson, 2016 ; Visser, 2009 ). Although product, and other kinds of, visual imagery seen on packaging (or seen through transparent windows in the packaging) undoubtedly play an important role in determining the consumer’s impressions of a variety of food and beverage products (Simmonds & Spence, 2017 , 2019 ; Simmonds et al., 2018a ), reviewing the literature documenting the role played by such concrete (typically semantically meaningful) visual cues falls beyond the scope of this targeted narrative review. This review will instead focus specifically on abstract visual design features and their relation to product taste/flavour, healthiness, price, etc. Those readers interested in the influence of product imagery are directed to Simmonds and Spence’s ( 2019 ) review.

Review outline

In ‘ On the meaning associated with individual abstract visual packaging cues ’ section, we review what is currently known about the connotative meanings (including crossmodal correspondences) associated with specific design features such as colour, shape, orientation/position, and the use of convention-defying visual designs. In ‘ Combining abstract visual design features ’ section, the discussion is extended to the meaning of combinations of abstract visual cues using, as a recent commercial example, the under-researched combination of colour and stripes (i.e. a band of colour that differs from the colour on either side of it). Applied researchers have now deconstructed a number of elements of food and beverage packaging design in order to try and discern how to optimize everything from the connotation of ‘healthiness’ (Cavallo & Piqueras-Fiszman, 2017 ; Huang & Lu, 2013 , 2015 ; Marques da Rosa et al., 2019 ; Reinoso-Carvalho et al., 2021 ), spiciness (Gil-Pérez et al., 2019 ), and quality (Pombo & Velasco, 2021 ; Wang, 2013 ). To date, however, only limited research has investigated the influence of vertical or horizontal orientation on consumer perception and product sales. This is demonstrated by the fact that in recent books on packaging (e.g. Velasco & Spence, 2019a , b ), there is virtually no mention of the topic. As such, there is a need to review the existing literature and make recommendations for future research. The ‘ Conclusions and future directions ’ section offers some directions for future research. Areas that are not covered by this review include the consumers’ response to innovations in specific packaging design/technology, nor will issues related to the sustainability of product packaging be discussed (e.g. Associated Press, 2013 ; Azzi et al., 2012 ; Rundh, 2005 ; Silayoi & Speece, 2007 ).

Note that in addition to providing an up-to-date review of the literature on visual aspects of packaging design, we also highlight several further concrete areas for future packaging research. These include determining which of the many meanings associated with specific abstract design features such as colours or packaging shapes are primed in the mind of the consumer under everyday conditions (i.e. away from the specific task constraints typically imposed by the experimenter in most laboratory research). Having determined several different meanings that are associated, individually, with specific visual design features, further research is clearly also needed to help determine which cues dominate and/or how different abstract design features combine to convey specific meanings to consumers in different markets/contexts (Visser, 2009 ). A priori, one might consider whether sub-/super-/additive interactions will be observed when various visual design cues (e.g. colour and shape) are combined. Alternatively, however, it would also seem possible that one cue, such as colour might tend to dominate over other cues (such as, for example, colour dominating over shape, typeface, or texture). At the same time, however, it is also important to stress the fact that the intramodal perceptual grouping (Wagemans, 2015 ) of visual cues may give rise to a different meaning/association entirely than that associated with, or primed by, the individual sensory cues (see Dreksler & Spence, 2019 ).

Over the years, a number of different theoretical accounts have been put forward in order to try and explain the meanings/associations that may be primed by different visual design features (see Table 1 for a summary of the various accounts that have been used to help explain the meaning of abstract visual design cues). The accounts include (a) grounded cognition theory where, for example, a ‘strong is heavy’ metaphor is activated, and thus congruency dictates that heavy objects should appear at the bottom of packaging (Fenko et al., 2018 ), (b) conceptual metaphor theory where healthy foods are associated with high verticality, and thus should be situated at the top of product packaging (Wang & Basso, 2021 ), (c) the connotative meaning account based on the semantic differential technique (see Table 2 for a summary of the various different methods used by researchers in this area), and crossmodal correspondences (e.g. green = healthy; Morich, 1981 ), (d) the theory of semiotics where signs convey meaning (e.g. cartoon portrait logos mentioned above; Barthes, 1977 ; Chandler, 2017 ), and (e) various evolutionary explanations where stripes may have evolved to attract attention. Ultimately, in terms of parsimony, it would obviously be desirable to consider whether any unifying explanatory account might be invoked/developed to help provide an overarching explanation for the meaning of visual design. However, when we take a careful look at each visual design cue in turn (see below), there is as yet little progress in developing such a commonly agreed account of visual design.

As highlighted in Fig.  2 , it is clear that there are multiple roles for visual design cues, both related to communicating meaning, or setting expectations, as well as in terms of attentional capture in a realistic visual (multisensory) environment (e.g. Peng-Li et al., 2020 ). Certainly, there is interest in those factors that facilitate attentional selection (Reutskaja et al., 2011 ). Here, it is worth stressing that visual design of product packaging has not only been shown to set specific expectations but can also modify people’s product experience. Very often, the approach used by researchers in this area is first to establish the expectations that are primed in the mind of the consumer on being presented with specific packaging designs. Thereafter, on occasion, researchers will then assess whether the differing expectations set by different packaging designs carry through to influence the consumer’s experience of the product itself (de Sousa et al., 2020 ; Togawa et al., 2019 ; Van Rompay et al., 2019 ; cf. Carvalho & Spence, 2019 ).

Assessment of visual design choices regarding specific individual design features (e.g. use of a particular colour or shape) at various stages of the packaging (design) journey

Ultimately, of course, the role of effective product packaging is not solely to communicate with the consumer and, on occasion, to enhance product experience, packaging also plays an important role in capturing the consumer’s attention on the shelf or online product display (see Fig.  2 ). It is intriguing to note here how a distinct body of research has attempted to assess the effectiveness of attentional capture, and the ease of finding a given target product on a more or less realistic shelf/online display (Reutskaja et al., 2011 ; Zhao et al., 2017 ). Ultimately, of course, the success of packaging designs is reflected in long-term sales, though here there simply tends to be less publically available research (Sugermeyer, 2021 ; cf. Kroese et al., 2016 ; Kühn et al., 2016 ).

On the meaning associated with individual abstract visual packaging cues

In this section, we review the evidence concerning the various meanings that may be associated with specific abstract visual cues in the context of product packaging (focusing primarily on the case of food and beverage packaging). Here, the focus will be on the meanings that consumers associate with colours, basic shapes, visual textures (Barbosa Escobar et al., 2020 ; see also Matthews et al., 2019 ), as well as the orientation and relative position of specific design elements. At the outset, it is worth highlighting the fact that there are different denotative, connotative, semiotic, and semantic meanings potentially associated with specific abstract visual design features, either when presented individually, or more commonly, when presented in combination (see Visser, 2009 ). That is, abstract visual design features may be associated with a specific product, brand, or category of product (see Baxter et al., 2018 ). Abstract visual design features such as colour or shape may also come to be associated with other product attributes such as healthiness, naturalness, indulgence, luxury, or cheapness (see Cavallo & Piqueras-Fiszman, 2017 ; Mai et al., 2016 ; Piqueras-Fiszman et al., 2012 ; Schuldt, 2013 ; Tijssen et al., 2017 ; Velasco & Spence, 2019c , for examples). There is also a ‘green/environmental concern’ association with unsurprisingly, the colour green (see Schloss et al., 2018 , in the context of recycling).

The focus in this review will primarily be on trying to understand the ‘meaning’ of various different abstract visual design features in terms of the crossmodal correspondences that have been established with sensory properties of the food and beverage products themselves, such as sweetness. At the same time, however, we will also summarize the relevant literature on the connotative meanings of abstract visual design features, such as active–passive, good-bad, dominant-submissive, that have been established by research using the semantic differential technique (Adams & Osgood, 1973 ; Henson et al., 2006 ; Osgood et al., 1957 ). Over the years, Word Association (Piqueras-Fiszman et al., 2013 ), Implicit Association Tests (Parise & Spence, 2012 ), and Conjoint Analysis (Ares & Deliza, 2010 ; Baptista et al., submitted; Gislason et al., 2020 ), as well as focus group research (Lunt, 1981 ; Rapaille, 2007 ; Stern, 1981 ) have all been used by those researchers wanting to establish the more abstract, symbolic/semiotic meanings that may be associated with specific abstract visual design features (typically when embedded in product packaging) (see Table 2 for a summary of techniques). We presumably also need to consider the benefits of the consumer neuroscience, or neuromarketing approaches to design (see also Huang et al., 2021 ). However, it should be noted that despite a longstanding interest in the consumer neuroscience of product packaging (see Weinstein, 1981 , for early research), the body of research that has been published to date remains fairly limited (see Moya et al., 2020 , for a review).

Having set the background for our consideration of the various meanings associated with abstract visual packaging design cues in the world of food and beverage packaging, we will now take a closer look at each of the main visual design features in turn, starting with perhaps the most frequently studied abstract visual design feature, namely colour.

On the multiple meanings of packaging colour and other visual appearance cues

Perhaps the single most extensively studied visual design feature on product packaging is colour (Baptista et al., 2021 ; Crilly et al., 2004 ; Danger, 1968 , 1987 ; Déribéré, 1978 ; Favre, 1968 ; Huang & Lu, 2013 ; Kovač et al., 2019 ; Labrecque & Milne, 2012 , 2013 ; Labrecque et al., 2013 ; Merlo et al., 2018 ; Theben et al., 2020 ; Wheatley, 1973 ; see Spence & Velasco, 2018 , for a review). Consider here only Coca-Cola’s dominant use of (and association with) the colour red (and rounded white text) which has been successfully linked to the brand and, by doing so, has seemingly managed to overcome any potential language/cultural barriers (Van Den Berg-Weitzel & Van Den Laar, 2001 ). The colour red and round typeface both also convey/prime notions of sweetness (Velasco et al., 2015b ; Velasco et al., 2018a , b ; Woods et al., 2016 ). However, in certain contexts red also acts as an indicator of temperature (i.e. warmth, think about the colour on taps; Ho et al., 2014 , see Spence, 2020b , for a review) and can signal danger/prime avoidance motivation (Lunardo et al., 2021 ; cf. Labrecque & Milne, 2012 ), as well as attraction (Tham et al., 2020 ). In other words, a particular hue of product packaging may be associated with a range of attributes/qualities, and the extent to which any one of these different associations are primed may well depend on the context, or category, in which that colour is presented (Amsteus et al., 2015 ). Intriguingly, Coca-Cola’s main international competitor (Pepsi) rebranded some years ago, choosing the colour blue (Cooper, 1996 ), presumably to help distinguish itself within the cola beverage category (see also Baxter et al., 2018 , on the importance of brand colour).

For further evidence of the learning of arbitrary associations between packaging colour scheme and flavour consider only the crisps/potato chips category, mentioned earlier (Piqueras-Fiszman et al., 2012 ). That said, there appears to be some degree of consistency with which different colours are used to signal different flavour variants. For instance, Velasco et al. ( 2015a ) demonstrated that congruency (e.g. red/tomato), relative to incongruency (e.g. yellow/tomato), between the colours used in product packaging and flavour labels facilitated their participants’ visual search performance (as evidenced by reduced reaction times) for target crisp packets. Packaging colour is, then, sometimes used to signal variation within a category, whereas, at other times, it may be associated with a particular brand (and thus indirectly also with a category instead).

Occasionally, however, brands have deliberately chosen to contravene the colour code of the category. Take, for example, the use of blue packaging for cheese-and-onion flavour crisps, and green packaging for salt-and-vinegar, introduced by Walkers in the UK to try to secure exposure of customers to their new flavour variety (c. 1984; see Piqueras-Fiszman et al., 2012 ). This decision was apparently based on the notion that our shopping choices are, in large part, based on colour (see Spence & Velasco, 2018 , for a review). Other crisp manufacturers in the UK had historically tagged salt-and-vinegar with blue. So, by packaging their new flavour variant (cheese and onion) in the well-establish blue of salt and vinegar, the idea was that consumers would shop by colour and hence be inadvertently exposed to a new flavour variant. Spence and Piqueras-Fiszman ( 2012 ) highlighted the example of a white wine that was called ‘Red’ and which had a bright red label, as an ultimately unsuccessful example of incongruency. Hence, sometimes abstract visual design features such as hue are chosen after considering both their ability to differentiate the product from others in the marketplace and the specific connotative meaning of the hue. The reader is referred to Labrecque and Milne ( 2013 ) for further discussion of colour norms and the benefits of colour differentiation in the marketplace (see Spence & Velasco, 2018 ; Vermeir & Roose, 2020 , for reviews).

In addition to pink and red being associated with sweetness, Woods et al. ( 2016 ) demonstrated that white and blue were associated with saltiness, green and yellow with sourness, and black and green with bitterness. Consumers have also been shown to perceive a candy bar with a green label as being healthier than one with a red label, even when the caloric information on the labels happens to be identical (Schuldt, 2013 ). While the majority of the research that has been published to date has tended to focus on the colour of outer packaging, it is interesting to note that inner packaging colour has started to attract the attention of researchers, especially for those products such as individual yoghurt pots, where the consumer often consumes the product directly from the packaging (see van Esch et al., 2019 ; see also Krishna et al., 2017 , on the importance of distinguishing between inner and outer packaging).

Taken together, the research that has been published to date highlights the multiple meanings that may be associated with a given colour in the context of food and beverage packaging. Given that packaging colour may be associated with one of a number of attributes including flavour (Piqueras-Fiszman et al., 2012 ), variant (Cutolo, 2021 ), brand (as in the case of signature colours; Baxter et al., 2018 ), but also more generally with other attributes such as healthfulness (Mai et al., 2016 ; Schuldt, 2013 ; Tijssen et al., 2017 ; see also Cavallo & Piqueras-Fiszman, 2017 ) and luxury/cheapness (see Velasco & Spence, 2019c ; Wheatley, 1973 ; see also Hagtvedt, 2014 ; Huang & Lu, 2013 ; Spence & Velasco, 2019 , for other examples), the relevant question becomes: Which of the many possible meanings dominates in the mind of the consumer in any given situation or context? It is worth noting that a problem with much of the laboratory/online research conducted to date is that the dimension of interest to researchers has often been presented to consumers in the response scale’s anchor labels. This is obviously unlike the conditions of everyday life, where the most salient dimension of meaning might well be determined by the aisle in a supermarket, or the category that the consumer is inspecting, or perhaps by the consumer’s current thoughts/objectives/goals (see Huang & Lu, 2015 ). Indeed, it is even possible that there may be a hierarchy of associations with some being dominant over others, again possibly depending on context.

Beyond hue, it is important to note how other visual appearance properties, such as lightness/saturation (Mai et al., 2016 ) and glossiness (De Kerpel et al., 2020 ; see Spence, 2021b , for a recent review) can also convey different messages/meanings when present on product packaging. For example, light and pale colours tend to be associated with healthfulness. That being said, as Mai et al. ( 2016 ) have noted, lightness may have different meanings for different people, and the association between lightness and perceived healthiness can be moderated by other factors including the goals of the consumer. Glossiness, on the other hand, tends to be associated with greasy and/or unhealthy foods by the majority of consumers (see Spence, 2021b , for a review).

It is at around this point that one might be tempted to ask, do visual design cues, such as colour, do anything more than merely set/prime a consumer’s expectations? And here, while online research that merely assesses expectations is just so much easier to conduct (e.g. Woods et al., 2015 ), nevertheless there are a few studies showing how changes to the visual appearance of the receptacle in which a product is packaged can significantly influence not just people’s expectations, but also their experience (cf. Carvalho & Spence, 2019 ). At the same time, however, it is important to note that the power of any visual cue, such as colour, as discussed in this section, to modulate taste is dependent not only on the strength or robustness of the association between the colour and the related taste, but also the degree of discrepancy between the consumer’s expectation and their actual experience (e.g. see Schifferstein, 2001 ; Spence & Piqueras-Fiszman, 2012 , for reviews).

Shape, packaging, and crossmodal correspondences

Given what we have seen so far, it should be clear that the shape of product packaging may convey (or prime) multiple distinct meanings to the consumer. Specific packaging shapes may be associated with quality, brand, gender, healthfulness, and strength (see Hine, 1995 ; Stern, 1981 ). And, just as for the case of colour, the various different theoretical accounts all have something to say regarding the meaning(s) of shape cues in product packaging (see Table 1 ). One recent area of interest amongst researchers has been on the crossmodal correspondences between shapes and taste/flavour (Velasco et al., 2016a , 2016b ). The latest research has highlighted the fact that basic shape properties are associated with taste in a manner that can, at times, seem almost synaesthetic (Cytowic & Wood, 1982 ) though, importantly, is not (Deroy & Spence, 2013 ). Roundness, for example, tends to be associated with sweetness, whereas angularity tends to be associated with bitterness, sourness, and saltiness (Spence & Deroy, 2012 , 2013 ). Sourness is also associated with asymmetrical, rather than with symmetrical, visual designs (see Salgado-Montejo et al., 2015a ; Turoman et al., 2018 ). Given such findings, shape-taste correspondences can be incorporated into a range of design elements including everything from typeface (de Sousa et al., 2020 ; Mead et al., 2020 ; Velasco & Spence, 2019b ; Wang et al., 2020 ) to lines and shapes on/of labels (Li et al., 2022 ; Matthews et al., 2019 ), transparent windows (Simmonds et al., 2019 ), and even the distinctive image moulds of specific packaging forms or silhouettes (Meyers, 1981 ; Overbeeke & Peters, 1991 ; Spence & Piqueras-Fiszman, 2012 ; Wang & Sun, 2006 ). While certain shapes are associated with specific flavours, atypical food packaging might attract attention and increase product salience (cf. van Ooijen et al., 2016 ). However, as the latter researchers point out, atypical packaging can also have a detrimental effect on the consumer’s product evaluation. Specifically, it can enhance the processing of product information which, in turn, decreases the persuasiveness of weak (i.e. unconvincing) messaging.

It is currently unclear what the basis of shape/taste associations might be (Dichter, 1971 ; Gal et al., 2007 ; Obrist et al., 2014 ; Spence & Deroy, 2012 , 2013 ). According to one suggestion, it may simply be that pleasant shapes are linked with pleasant tastes (e.g. round with sweet) while potentially threatening stimuli (e.g. angular shapes and bitterness) may be grouped together. One can think of this as a kind of emotional mediation, or affective correspondence, account (Salgado-Montejo et al., 2015a ). However, according to Obrist et al. ( 2014 ), roundness may be associated with sweetness because of the gradual change in taste sensation that is experienced with this kind of taste stimulus. Obrist et al. demonstrated that people typically experience sweetness as building slowly, having a rounded or smoothed peak, and then decaying slowly on the palate. By contrast, sour tastes are experienced as having a much sharper temporal onset and offset. That said, the fact that many crossmodal correspondences have been incorporated conventionally in product packaging for decades, means it is hard to discount the possibility that consumers have simply internalized (perhaps unconsciously) the regularities of the marketplace.

Cross-cultural research from Bremner et al. ( 2013 ) is of relevance here. These researchers investigated the Himba tribe in Namibia. These hunter-gatherers have no written language nor access to supermarkets. Intriguingly, this group does not show the same taste-shape correspondences that have been documented elsewhere. Specifically, they exhibited no association between angularity and carbonation in sparkling (vs. still) water (cf. Spence, 2019a ). What is more, they associated milk chocolate (i.e. sweet) with angular shapes while matching dark chocolate (i.e. bitter) with round shapes—the opposite of what has been demonstrated repeatedly elsewhere. This suggests that the internalization of the visual communication conventions of the marketplace may well play an important role in explaining certain crossmodal correspondences relevant to product packaging (and/or product forms). Notice here how, should such idiosyncratic results be replicated, they would argue against Obrist et al.’s ( 2014 ) putative account of taste-shape correspondences. The various explanations (see Table 1 ) for the communicative function of shape cues should not, of course, be treated as mutually exclusive, and indeed several explanations have been shown to contribute to explaining a number of the crossmodal correspondences that have been documented in the literature to date (Spence, 2020a ).

Shape may also be associated with health, strength, or possibly even with taste properties (Parise & Spence, 2012 ). There is also a literature on branded ‘image moulds’: That is, distinctive packaging forms or silhouettes (Arboleda & Arce-Lopera, 2015 ) that may become associated with a specific brand (e.g. consider only the contour of a Coca-Cola bottle; Prince, 1994 ) and/or with a specific class of product (Söderlund et al., 2017 ), as happened some years ago with the sloped-shouldered Wishbone salad dressing bottle (see Hine, 1995 ; Meyers, 1981 ). The suggestion is that the most successful packaging forms have become image moulds in lieu of the fact that the shape features (e.g. rounded or angular) are consistent with the key brand attributes (Anon., 1994 ; Gislason et al., 2020 ; Parise & Spence, 2012 ). On occasion, semantically meaningful shapes have been incorporated in packaging design (e.g. as in the successful case of the green tea sold in Japan in a green plastic bottle that itself resembles bamboo; see Visser, 2009 , pp. 8–9).

Importantly, and just as was the case for colour (discussed earlier), given that packaging shapes are associated with a variety of different attributes, consumers may need to be primed to think about taste (gustation) before they discriminate between shapes as a function of taste. That is, consumer goals (or context) may be critical in terms of determining the communicative function of packaging shape. That said, and again, there may also be a hierarchy of values. Addressing these issues constitutes an important task for future applied packaging research. And, once again, future research might benefit from considering how Mukherjee et al.’s ( 2022 ) theory of semantic discriminability. In particular, it would be interesting to know more about the role of context, or comparison stimuli, in determining whether the concepts that are primed in the consumer’s mind by specific shape cues might not reflect inference rather than necessarily direction association.

When orientation biases meaning

The orientation of abstract visual design features (such as shapes) on product packaging also matters when it comes to communicating with the consumer. For instance, people have been shown to respond very differently to triangles as a function of whether they happen to point upwards or downwards (Zhao et al., 2017 , 2020 ). Triangles, or other angular shapes, that pointing downwards/towards the viewer can trigger a short-lasting neural fear response in the human amygdala (Larson et al., 2007 ; Watson et al., 2011 ). One explanation that has been put forward for this finding is that downward-pointing, relative to upward-pointing, triangles generate a change in visual processing that is driven by negative affective properties (Watson et al., 2011 ).

Meanwhile, lines ascending to the right have very different connotations than when the same line ascends to the left instead (see Spence et al., 2019 , for a review). The former appear to be associated with positive dynamism, whereas the latter tend to have a much less positive connotation (see Velasco et al., 2015c ). By way of example, Mead et al. ( 2020 ) reported that right-slanted fonts were effective in evoking thoughts of an advertising campaign that was moving forward (and thus that time was running out) which, in turn, influenced people’s purchasing intentions. Intriguingly, it has even been suggested that the response to oriented lines can appear almost innate (see Karim et al., 2016 ).

Notice here also how, depending on its orientation, the same curved line may look like a smile or a frown (Salgado-Montejo et al., 2015b ). Even the direction in which individual faces are looking (i.e. to the left or right) has been shown to subtly prime different expectations/associations in the mind of the consumer (Park et al., 2021 ). Specifically, leftward-facing people are deemed to be ever-so-slightly more attractive which, in turn, has been shown to promote more positive attitudes towards products.

As another example, the customers in one intriguing study were invited to evaluate the ‘house blend’ of coffee (Van Rompay et al., 2019 , based on work by Rorink, 2018 ). These authors established that horizontal vs. vertical stripes on a poster in a Dutch coffee shop influenced customers’ ratings of the coffee. Van Rompay et al. used the concept of ‘embodied cognition’ to help explain their findings. Specifically, their suggestion was that luxury and power are associated with ‘top-shelf’ and ‘looking down’ on others, respectively. These researchers reported that vertical, relative to horizontal, stripes positively influenced taste experience, quality perception, and purchase intention of coffee. The argument is that a vertically oriented advertising display may invoke perceptions of power (i.e. Machiels & Orth, 2017 ; Schubert, 2005 ; Sundar & Noseworthy, 2014 ; van Rompay et al., 2012 ). The suggestion was that this, in turn, caused the consumers to rate the coffee as having a more powerful/intense taste, relative to those in a horizontally oriented advertisement condition.

Position implicitly conveys meaning

Researchers have explored other indicators of verticality, such as the positioning of elements on product packaging. For instance, Fenko et al. ( 2018 ) assessed the impact of incorporating an image of a lion (as a metaphor for strength) on a package of coffee beans. The lion could either appear at the top or bottom of the packaging. The lion’s location was shown to influence both multisensory flavour perception and purchase intentions. When the image was situated at the bottom of the packaging, the coffee was perceived to be stronger. Fenko and her colleagues argued that this is consistent with the theory of grounded cognition, whereby a ‘strong is heavy’ metaphor is activated, with heavy objects usually located on the ground. Similarly, Togawa et al. ( 2019 ) found that an image of a food item placed lower on the product packaging enhanced both people’s expectations and perceptions of the heaviness of the product’s flavour. Interestingly, the association between position and heaviness influenced consumers’ decisions regarding healthy eating, such that they consumed less of the ‘heavy’ food and tended to choose a healthier snack option instead.

In research exploring the association between healthiness and vertical position, Wang and Basso ( 2021 ) recently demonstrated that people associate healthy food (i.e. fruit salad) with high verticality, whereas unhealthy food (i.e. ice cream) was associated with low verticality instead. These researchers suggested that conceptual metaphor theory could be used to explain their findings in that health is commonly associated with ‘up’ (being upright; sayings such as ‘She is in peak physical condition’), while illness is associated with ‘down’ (being forced to lie down in bed; ‘She felt under the weather’ or being ‘down in the dumps’). Meanwhile, in an earlier study, Deng and Kahn ( 2009 ) reported that the consumer’s goals (e.g. to be healthy) influenced their preferences for the location of objects on product packaging. Specifically, those consumers with a health goal exhibited a weakened preference for packages where the image was situated at the bottom (i.e. heavy location). While the design features whose position has been varied were semantically meaningful stimuli in the above-mentioned cases, it might be expected that similar associations would be documented were it to be the position of an abstract visual design element that was varying instead.

Elsewhere, Simmonds et al. ( 2018b ) demonstrated that the left/right position of transparent windows embedded in product packaging significantly influenced ratings of a range of product qualities (e.g. overall liking, quality, willingness to purchase) for fake brands of lemon mousse, cereal, and chocolate. Finally here, mention should be made of Salgado-Montejo et al. ( 2015b ) study highlighting how the position of a concave/convex line on the front of product packaging (top, middle, or bottom) biased the likelihood with which that design feature was interpreted as a smile. Specifically, the line was more likely to be interpreted as a smile when it appeared at the bottom, rather than the top, of product packaging, thus suggesting a degree of anthropomorphism. Note here that anthropomorphism in product/packaging design tends to increase consumer preference (Batra et al., 2016 ). Similar benefits have now been noted across a wide range of product categories (e.g. Rapaille, 2007 ; Wang & Basso, 2019 ).

Interim summary

An emerging body of scientific research has started to document the various meanings that are associated (by consumers) with specific visual cues/design features in product packaging in the food and beverage category. Colours (and saturation, lightness, and finish/glossiness) on product packaging have all been associated with various taste/flavour properties, product quality, and the healthiness of the product contained within the packaging. Stripes, be they vertical or horizontal, represent an interesting class of design feature in not having a clear connotative meaning (Albertazzi et al., 2021 ; Walker & Walker, 2012 ) established in the literature to date. In contrast to other design features mentioned so far, stripes represent an abstract visual design feature that has (to date at least) seemingly received little research attention from those interested in product packaging (see, for example, the absence of coverage in Velasco & Spence, 2019a ), despite various companies choosing to introduce stripes in their product packaging.

Combining abstract visual design features

Having reviewed the evidence concerning the meaning of individual abstract visual design cues, such as colour, shape, and orientation in product packaging, it seems worthwhile turning to the question of how various combinations of abstract visual design cues may be interpreted by the consumer. This can either be combinations of colours, as in colour pairs or triplets, or combinations of different visual features, such as the combination of colour and shape. However, given the combinatorial explosion that one is soon faced with when combining different visual design features, our focus in this section will be on the associations/meaning that may be associated with, or primed by stripes, given their neglect in the literature on crossmodal correspondences to date, together with their frequent appearance in nature and product packaging.

The use of stripes introduces combinations of visual features such as colour pairs which, in turn, might be expected to generate interesting effects such as colour contrast. The meaning of colour pairs has been well-studied but depends, to a certain degree, on the specific relation between the component parts. For example, side-by-side vs. foreground/background arrangements will need to be considered by package designers, and even which element is in the fore-/back-ground (Woods & Spence, 2016 ; Woods et al., 2016 ; cf. Deng et al., 2010 ; Schifferstein & Howell, 2015 ). Pink on a white background, for example, is more strongly associated with sweetness than (a) when either colour is presented in isolation, (b) when white is presented against a pink background, or (c) when these colours are presented side-by-side instead.

There is a longstanding, separate literature on colour-shape correspondences (e.g. Dreklser & Spence, 2019 ). The research has demonstrated that combinations of colour and form sometimes take on specific symbolic (i.e. the image/association that comes to mind with respect to a product; Kujala & Nurkka, 2012 ) and/or affective (i.e. the emotion elicited by a stimulus) meaning (Ares & Deliza, 2010 ; Kaeppler, 2018 ; Oyama, 2003 ; Spence, 2021c ). One might question whether cues are combined based on similar connotative meanings, as assessed by approaches such as the semantic differential technique (Osgood et al., 1957 ; Snider & Osgood, 1969 ; cf. Henson et al., 2006 ; Kawachi et al., 2011 ; Morich, 1981 ; Oyama et al., 1998 ; Schaefer & Rotte, 2010 ; Suzuki et al., 2005 ). Consider, for example, how red and highly angular shapes often co-occur (e.g. on the front of beer cans; Spence, 2012 ). This constellation of abstract visual design features may go particularly well together because, when presented individually, both stimuli are associated with activity and dominance (rather than with passivity and submissiveness) according to semantic differential analysis (Adams & Osgood, 1973 ).

Ensuring the congruency Footnote 6 of different visual design elements has been suggested to be an important part of successful design (Fürst et al., 2021 ; Heatherly et al., 2019 ; Matthews et al., 2019 ; Salgado-Montejo et al., 2014 ), processing fluency, Footnote 7 and effective visual search (Velasco et al., 2015a ). From a marketing perspective, the wrong combination of design features can exert a drastic negative impact on brand perception and, importantly, sales. Tom et al. ( 1987 ) provide an example where a Swiss coffee brand redesigned their packaging. Although the new packaging won awards for design, sales plummeted. The problem appeared to be that diagonal stripes of mauve were simply not deemed congruent with the conventions of the category (i.e. coffee packaging) by the consumer. Favre and November ( 1979 ) provided several other historic examples of unsuccessful packaging colour rebrands. Hence, having established the connotative meaning of specific visual design features as a function of their position/orientation, manufacturers have a choice to either follow the conventions of the category or go for something different. However, only some brands seem able to carry-off incongruent signalling in the marketplace (cf. Sundar & Noseworthy, 2016 ), especially given the disruption to processing fluency that such incongruency is likely to elicit (Lunardo & Livat, 2016 ; cf. Herrmann et al., 2013 ; Labroo et al., 2008 ). Wheatley ( 1973 ) gives the example of the hugely successful Alpen muesli that came out with matte black packaging for their muesli in the 1970s in a mostly white and sunny yellow coloured product category (i.e. breakfast cereal). More recently, several fabric conditioner brands have similarly attempted to disrupt the colour conventions of the laundry category by again coming out with black packaging in a mostly white and blue packaging colour category. It is interesting to consider here how the desire to stand out on the shelf, and so capture the customer’s visual attention more effectively (see Reutskaja et al., 2011 ; Spence & Piqueras-Fiszman, 2012 ), often leads to the colour (and other visual design) conventions of the category being overturned. This strategy has been used very effectively in recent years in the drinks category, by those such as Gatorade, and more recently, Innocent (the latter with their Bolt from the Blue product launch; see Spence, 2021d ).

Certain combinations of shapes and colours may take on symbolic or semantic associations. Think, for example, of how a red circle or plus sign on a field of white may prime notions of the Japanese flag and the Red Cross, respectively (Chen et al., 2021 ). One might also consider the semantic meaning of the iconic Lucky Strike cigarette packaging showing a red circle against a white background (designed by Raymond Loewy). Furthermore, people typically associate yellow with a crescent shape, presumably because they are reminded of the moon (Dreksler & Spence, 2019 ; Woods et al., 2013 ). It is worth noting that combinations of colours in stripes can be associated with a particular (semantic) meaning which is, at times, dependent on the orientation of the stripes (see below).

Recent commercial examples: on the use and orientation of coloured stripes on product packaging

Given Kentucky Fried Chicken’s (KFC’s) recent decision to update the design of their food product packaging (Anon., 2021 ) and stores (Valinsky, 2020 ) to emphasize their signature vertical red-and-white stripes, we have chosen to use them as a recent commercial example regarding the use of stripes in product branding and how these design elements contribute to perception. Similarly, Devondale—a company offering a range of dairy products—updated their packaging back in 2012 such that it included horizontal light blue-and-white stripes (Hicks, 2012 ). The branding on this iconic Australian range of dairy products is reminiscent of the famous ‘Cornishware’ style of English kitchen pottery. Of relevance, given Devondale’s use of blue-and-white stripes, and the fact that the company has ties to dairy farming, this design may also be intended to evoke thoughts of farms, cottages, and cows (see also Rodionova, 2016 , for supermarkets attempting to create associations by using fake farm names).

Note here how the semantic/affective associations with horizontal light blue-and-white stripes cannot simply be predicted based on the consumer’s response to the individual abstract visual design cues (Spence et al., 2015a , b ). One might consider whether the blue caps on traditional milk bottles could also provide a basis for the use of this combination of colours (i.e. blue cap plus white milk). Abstract patches of blue and white, when presented together, are associated with a salty taste (Woods & Spence, 2016 ; Woods et al., 2016 ). It is, though, worth noting that the participants in Woods and colleagues’ online research were primed to think in terms of the associations between colour pairs and basic tastes, given that they were forced to choose between the basic tastes when responding (cf. Mukherjee et al., 2022 ). Thus, even though the combination of blue and white may be more strongly associated with salty than with other tastes, that does not preclude the possibility that the consumer might be primed to think of milk/dairy more than they are to think of salt on seeing this combination of colours.

Similarly, a particular shade of purple, red, or turquoise might well be expected to prime associations with the branded colours of Cadbury’s chocolate, Coca-Cola, and Tiffany jewellery, respectively, more than with specific taste qualities (see Baxter et al., 2018 ). It would be helpful if future research, in which the associations primed in consumers by viewing specific combinations of colours, were not constrained by a forced-choice design (e.g. as in the open responding required in the Word Association task, for example; Piqueras-Fiszman et al., 2013 ). At the same time, given the multitude of responses that might ensue, it would perhaps help to give the consumer a particular context (e.g. ‘What comes to mind if you saw this particular combination of colours in the refrigerated section of a supermarket?’). A third example of the use of coloured stripes in product packing relates to the LGBTQI + movement and the incorporation of rainbow stripes into product design (e.g. Ralph Lauren t-shirts, ADIDAS shoes; see Yates, 2021, for a number of other examples). By way of example, the incorporation of the LGBTQI + flag, which combines five colours, into product design may have implications for the connotative meaning and brand perception beyond the associations primed by colours.

In relation to KFC and Devondale, products in warm-coloured packaging (e.g. red) are deemed to be less healthy than are those presented in packages using cooler colours (e.g. blue; see Singh, 2006 ; Van Rompay et al., 2016 ). Woods et al. ( 2016 ) demonstrated that colour pairs communicate basic tastes and found that, for example, the pairing of white and red was associated with saltiness. This is interesting considering KFC’s recent rebrand where the red-and-white stripes were made more vibrant. Woods et al. also reported that the combination of white and blue better portrayed saltiness than when using either colour alone; previous research had shown that each colour was associated with saltiness (Favre & November, 1979 ; Spence et al., 2015b ; cf. Velasco et al., 2016a , 2016b ). It might seem odd then that Devondale should choose to use this pairing on dairy products as, although butter is often salted (but can also be unsalted), a company might want to avoid generating an expectation of salty milk. Perhaps the hope is to generate mental imagery associated with Cornishware in those who happen to be familiar with this famous traditional style of pottery from the UK, and that this will override the blue-white/saltiness correspondence (at least in those who are familiar with Cornishware).

A separate literature has explored the perceptual differences generated by lines as a function of whether they are shown horizontally vs. vertically (Avery & Day, 1969 ). People tend to perceive horizontal lines as being shorter than lines of equivalent length presented vertically. Such visual illusions have implications for the form (or orientation) of product packaging in that consumers perceive short, wide packages to hold less volume than tall, slender packages (see Chen & Shi, 2017 ; see also Raghubir & Greenleaf, 2006 ); Raghubir & Krishna, 1999 ; cf. Cheskin, 1951 , pp. 193–194). Think, here, only of Piaget’s conservation task (Piaget, 1952 ). To add another layer of complexity to this issue, the ‘Helmholtz Square’ illusion shows that a square comprised of vertical stripes appears to be shorter and wider than an identical square comprising horizontal stripes (Coren & Girgus, 1978 ; Seriously Science, 2014 ; Thompson & Mikellidou, 2009 ). In all the above cases, while the shape itself does not change, simply altering the orientation leads to a predictable change in visual perception. Interestingly, this may be of benefit to Devondale in their marketing of butter which is presented in rectangular containers. Although speculative, the Devondale container with its horizontal stripes might make the container look taller, thus creating an illusion such that people unconsciously believe they are getting more for their money.

Thus, the orientation of visual design elements on product packaging, and even the position of packaging on shelving (see Sunaga et al., 2016 , on the lightness-elevation correspondence that can be used to guide shelf positioning), influences perception by priming those attributes that happen to be linked to specific visual design features. Hence, KFC which achieved success via the introduction of vertical red-and-white stripes (see Anon., 2021 ), and Devondale who use horizontal blue-and-white stripes on their brand packaging, may succeed independently of one another due to the influence of several, independent factors helping to determine/constitute the meaning of coloured stripes.

Assessing the effectiveness of stripes in product packaging

Evolutionary theory provides a possible, if highly speculative, explanatory framework for the success/appeal of stripes in the marketing of products in the food and beverage category (see above for the evolutionary account of several other visual design features). Although it is beyond the scope of this narrative review to comprehensively list all of the hypotheses relating to communicating signals, we outline a few particularly relevant ones below. The first thing to point out is that repetitious patterns (e.g. stripes) are common in nature—think of the zebra, zebra fish, or tiger snake, as examples (Coborn, 1991 ; Lieske & Myers, 1994 ). Repetitive patterns may have evolved in nature to stimulate ‘the receiver regardless of the position of the signal’ (Kenward et al., 2004 , p. 412) on the retina. At the same time, however, the incorporation of stripes may serve somewhat different functions in different species. The zebra’s distinctive stripes, for example, help to deter flies from biting them (see How et al., 2020 ), while tigers might have stripes to hide/for camouflage, and bees perhaps to warn off other creatures (though see Stelzer et al., 2010 , for evidence questioning the latter suggestion). In other words, the effect of stripes might rely on the qualities of the stripes, the combination of colours used, and the ecological niche inhabited by the animal.

In much the same way, it has been suggested that the presence of stripes might be used for camouflage or capture attention, colour is important both as an aid to foraging (Foroni et al., 2016 )—though researchers argue about whether it developed to facilitate frugivory or folivory (e.g. Sumner & Mollon, 2003 )—as well as a potential signal for mating/conspecific communication (e.g. Changizi et al., 2006 ; see also Humphrey, 1976 , on the complex evolutionary meanings associated with colour). Hence, evolutionary accounts are currently both limited in the range of visual design cues that they can potentially provide an explanation for, and are often open to other interpretations (both evolutionary and otherwise), meaning that they are of only limited explanatory validity in decoding the visual aspects of packaging design.

Repetitive patterns such as stripes may be used in marketing because images created on the retina can vary in orientation as well as in position. Think, for example, of a shopper in a supermarket moving past a product from right-to-left, and then from left-to-right. This creates image sequences that are mirror reflections of each other. Stripes will be invariant when reflected (i.e. symmetrical), so the use of stripes may contribute to enhanced processing fluency (cf. Bigoin-Gagnan & Lacoste-Badie, 2018 ). Manufacturers of sour products may want to avoid the use of stripes though, given that sourness tends to be associated with visual designs that are asymmetrical (Salgado-Montejo et al., 2015a ; Turoman et al., 2018 ). Remember here how a lack of congruency between visual design elements and expected taste attributes can negatively impact product attitudes (see Ares & Deliza, 2010 ). At the same time, however, it is worth noting that symmetry is processed fluently, and hence tends to be preferred visually (Pecchinenda et al., 2014 ).

One of the problems with products on supermarket shelves is the need to stand out when parts of the packaging may be obscured. Importantly, repetitive patterns such as stripes may be useful because they look similar even when parts of the product (or animal in nature) are obscured and, as such, will still be recognizable to an onlooker (Kenward et al., 2004 ). An important physiological process explaining the usefulness of stripes might be lateral inhibition. Lateral inhibition is defined as ‘the capacity of excited neurons to reduce the activity of their neighbours’ (Cohen, 2011 , p. 1437). Lateral inhibition helps to enhance edges, and ‘makes it easier to distinguish objects from backgrounds under varying light conditions’ (Kenward et al., 2004 , p. 415). As such, stripes have a greater apparent maximum intensity than do solid blocks of colour, and thus they tend to ‘pop out’. As brands have very limited time to attract the attention of potential buyers (Reutskaja et al., 2011 ; Sugermeyer, 2021 ), stripes might work well amongst the myriad products and advertising clutter on shelves. At a psychological level, one might also choose to invoke Gestalt theory to help describe the factors affecting the grouping of elements, such as lines, in product packaging (Ellis, 1938 ; Wagemans, 2015 ). Grouping principles such as grouping-by-similarity, grouping-by-proximity, and good continuation may sometimes also help to predict/explain why visual design features, such as stripes, are grouped in certain ways.

Finally, it is worth noting that stripes may also have other semantic associations, that have been built up through experience, and which may help to explain their meaning to consumers (i.e. independent of any specific evolutionary account). Consumers might, for instance, be primed by the sight of black and white stripes to think of prison uniforms, or perhaps a fashion icon such as Coco Chanel, or a sports team (e.g. Juventus). There are, in other words, likely always going to be a range of explanations behind the ‘meaning(s)’, or associations, that happen to be primed by any given visual design feature. It is important to note that the various explanations should not be treated as mutually exclusive, and indeed several explanations have recently been shown to contribute to explaining many of the crossmodal correspondences that have been documented in the literature (Spence, 2020a ).

The research reported in this section highlight how the meaning attributed by consumers to the combination of different abstract visual cues, such as colour pairs or colour and shape, typically cannot simply be predicted simply on the basis of the consumers’ response to the individual visual cues when assessed in isolation. Sometimes, for example, specific combinations of visual design cues may deliver a configuration that takes on a meaning of its own, as with the thick horizontal blue and white stripes that may be associated with Cornishware pottery, while the individual colours are likely to be associated with a salty taste (see Spence et al., 2015a , b ). By contrast, the red and white vertical stripes of KFC packaging might be expected to cue saltiness and power, possibly enhancing the taste of the product (cf. Fenko et al., 2016 ). One of the important areas for future research on the visual design of product packaging is therefore to understand more about the meaning to consumers of various combinations of abstract visual design cues (e.g. such as the combination involved in coloured stripes).

Conclusions and future directions

The majority of the research on the visual design of product packaging has addressed individual visual design features. However, while this is undoubtedly a fruitful first step, it is crucial to note that any realistic example of food or beverage packaging will inevitably incorporate several visual design elements (see Favre & November, 1979 ; Hine, 1995 ; Visser, 2009 ). Hence, the question immediately becomes one of whether it is possible to predict the consumer’s response to the combination based simply on how they respond to individual abstract visual cues, such as colour or shape/form (Labrecque et al., 2013 ). The limited evidence that has been published to date certainly suggests that while abstract visual design elements that are congruent in terms of their connotative meaning, and/or that are linked by their crossmodal correspondence, are sometimes combined, there are other situations in which a specific configuration of visual design cues takes on a semantic meaning that goes beyond the meaning of the individual cues (Dreksler & Spence, 2019 ; Matthews et al., 2019 ; Spence, 2020a ; Zhao et al., 2020 ; and see Velasco et al., 2014a , for a review). It should, of course, further be remembered that visual design cues are but one element of multisensory packaging design.

Furthermore, although several studies have shown that individual visual design features (e.g. colours) have similar meanings across cultures (Adams & Osgood, 1973 ; Wheatley, 1973 ), some of the meanings (or codes) of packaging would appear to be market specific (Velasco et al., 2014b ). This is obviously an important area for future research as far as international brands are concerned. However, returning to a point we made a moment ago, there is currently very limited evidence assessing whether combinations of features influence consumers from different cultures in similar ways (see Van Doorn et al., 2017 , for one example relating to the influence of the height and width of coffee cups). One intriguing recent approach to establishing the affective or connotative colour associations has been based on machine learning (e.g. Jahanian et al., 2017 ; Jonauskaite et al., 2019b ; see also Schloss et al., 2019 ).

At times, of course, design features are incorporated to make products stand out, and thus facilitate visual search for product packaging (e.g. Jansson, Marlow, & Bristow, 2004 ; Shen et al., 2015 ; Velasco et al., 2015a ; Zhao et al., 2017 ). Importantly, this can help to facilitate information processing (van Ooijen et al., 2016 ) but, depending on how design features are integrated, also has the potential to negatively impact product evaluations (Spence & Piqueras-Fiszman, 2012 ; Sundar & Noseworthy, 2016 ). There is also a growing awareness that certain visual designs that have been shown to work well in the setting of physical bricks and mortar store may need to be modified/simplified to maximize their appeal for the online shopping setting (Reinoso-Carvalho et al., 2021 ).

As our understanding of the meaning, or connotation, of visual design elements of product packaging in the food and beverage category continues to grow, based on the theory of crossmodal correspondences, there is an opportunity to predictively develop packaging that has been optimized to combine visual features such as colour, shape, orientation, and position in order to convey the appropriate meaning (Jacquot et al., 2016 ; Velasco et al., 2014a ; see Spence, 2020a , for a review) and/or capture the consumer’s attention. On occasion, visual design elements may be combined in an attempt to capture the consumer’s attention (see Piqueras-Fiszman et al., 2012 ) but, given the likely loss of processing fluency (Labroo et al., 2008 ; cf. Dohle & Siegrist, 2014 ), this technique should be used cautiously. Of course, any change in product/packaging design may lead to success simply because it is novel and/or captures the shopper’s visual attention (as in the case of the Bolt from the Blue from Innocent Drinks; Spence, 2021d ). However, altering iconic visual designs can all-too-easily lead to a backlash from consumers that can adversely affect sales. PepsiCo discovered this some years ago when they changed their iconic ‘straw in a juicy orange’ design on their Tropicana packaging (Airey, 2010 ; Marion, 2015 ; see also Favre & November, 1979 ). Footnote 8

As highlighted by this review, the scientific approach to visual design of food and beverage product packaging is rapidly contributing knowledge in this field, and helping product designers/marketers to significantly increase sales (Sugermeyer, 2021 ). The emerging understanding of the connotative meaning/crossmodal correspondences that are associated with specific abstract visual design cues, such as colour, shape, orientation, and position means that it is increasingly possible to predictively prime certain attributes. At the same time, however, most product packaging incorporates a variety of design elements, and their meaning, in combination, is not always easy to predict from elements studied in isolation. There is, therefore, a danger of combinatorial explosion should one try to map out the meaning of a wide array of combinations of design features. At the same time, as should have become apparent from the above discussion, researchers and practitioners still remain a long way from developing a commonly agreed account of visual design. Perhaps, though, this should not come as any surprise, given the variety of signs and contexts evoked by the visual design of food and beverage, or for that matter, any other category, of packaging.

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Synaesthesia refers to the phenomenon whereby stimulating one sense (or sensory dimension) leads to automatic, involuntary, and idiosyncratic perceptual experiences in a second sense, or sensory dimension (cf. Oyama et al., 1998 ).

Note that these terms are used scientifically, as opposed to colloquially, usage. As such taste is used to refer to one of the gustatorily determined basic tastes (e.g. sweet, sour, bitter, salty, sour, and umami), whereas flavour refers to the combined experience of taste and smell as in the experience of citrus, fruity, floral, or herbal notes (see Spence et al., 2015a , b ).

Abstract visual design features/properties in packaging design include any simple feature (such as a colour, shape, and visual texture) that does not have an obvious semantic meaning. Note that while signature hues associated with brands might well be said to represent a simple design feature that has become imbued with semantic meaning (i.e. whatever the consumer associates with the brand, e.g. Baxter et al., 2018 ), such individual hues, along with other specific colours, will be treated as abstract visual design features here.

According to Lafontaine et al. ( 2020 , p. 244): ‘Associative learning is defined as learning about the relationship between two separate stimuli, where the stimuli might range from concrete objects and events to abstract concepts, such as time, location, context, or categories’.

Here, already, one might start to wonder whether inferred colour-concept relations (see Tham et al., 2020 ) are as effective in terms of consumer perception/behaviour as the inferred mappings that are presumably often picked-up by the research (see Spence & Levitan, 2022 ).

While congruency is a challenging notion to define, it is generally taken to refer to combinations of features or attributes that are perceived as ‘going well together’, possibly because the elements commonly co-occur, or because they share perceptual affinity/similarity (Amsellem & Ohla, 2016 ; though see Schifferstein & Verlegh, 1996 ).

The widely used notion of ‘processing fluency’ refers to the ease with which a given stimulus configuration can be processed. Processing fluency tends to be higher for those stimuli that are familiar, easy to process, and where the component stimuli are congruent. Processing fluency is positively valenced (Lunardo & Livat, 2016 ; cf. Labroo et al., 2008 ).

One might consider this slightly ironic given that Tropicana source their oranges from Florida where, traditionally, most oranges were the green-skinned variety (see Hisano, 2019 ).

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Acknowledgements

Significance statement.

The visual attributes of product packaging play a key role in terms of communicating with the consumer, not to mention capturing their attention while the packaging is displayed on the shelf or online. Both semantically meaningful and abstract visual design elements combine to convey meaning/prime associations in the mind of the consumer. While traditionally, decisions about visual design were often made intuitively or on the basis of focus groups or in-depth interviews, there has been a recent growth of scientific interest in understanding the way(s) in which various abstract design elements communicate with the consumer. This narrative review summarizes the various theoretical accounts that have been put forward to help explain the meaning of colour, shape, texture, and stripes in product packaging, including accounts in terms of crossmodal correspondences, connotative meaning, symbolic meaning, semantic meaning, and evolutionary accounts. While the primary focus of this review is on using abstract visual design features to communicate taste properties, the signalling of other attributes such as variant, brand, quality, natural/healthy, and price is also discussed where relevant. Several directions for future research that should help determine the likely meaning abstract visual design cues when used in combination are also outlined.

Completion of this review was supported by AHRC ‘Rethinking the Senses’ Grant AH/L007053/1.

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Spence, C., Van Doorn, G. Visual communication via the design of food and beverage packaging. Cogn. Research 7 , 42 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s41235-022-00391-9

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