Imperfection can become beauty: the role of food processing

A large volume of edible food is wasted every year because of retailers stringent grading standards for fresh produce. Indeed, prior research has shown that food shape abnormalities negatively affect consumers’ evaluation of such products. Across three studies, we show that imperfect foods that have been physically processed are perceived more prototypical than imperfect foods in their original state, which in turn increases consumers’ general attitude towards them. No difference is found for processed products produced using perfect foods.