According to cue utilization theory, consumers rely on extrinsic and intrinsic cues to infer a product’s experience or credence qualities. Intrinsic cues include physical characteristics of the product, such as their color or shape; they cannot be changed without altering the physical product. Extrinsic cues instead represent external links, such as brand, price, or product labels. They can be manipulated without modifying the physical properties of the product . While food may deviate along several sensory characteristics such as color or size, the present study
focuses on food shape abnormality as an intrinsic cue.