Evidence on external cues has been extensively reviewed by Okamoto & Dan, 2013. However, the studies were all performed among younger adults .
When consumers select food or drink products, either for direct consumption or for purchase in a store, their product selection is typically based on extrinsic properties such as the product’s packaging and brandname rather than solely on intrinsic properties (such as the product’s actual taste and texture).
For example, recent research demonstrates that packaging not only creates expectations about the intrinsic properties and product uses, but can actually affect intrinsic, e.g. packaging with sharp edges may make the content taste more bitter than packaging with rounded shapes.It is not known whether these flavour–packaging interactions are the same for young and older adults.
However, targeting an ageing market with new, healthy and enjoyable foods is a notoriously difficult task, as foods labelled ‘‘for seniors” will probably turn out to be fairly unattractive for old and young alike .
It is known that consumer perception and appreciation of most food products is susceptible to the attitudes and beliefs that consumers hold towards the specific products or parts of products .
It can therefore be expected that any information given on foods will influence food perception, liking and maybe even intake in senior consumers.