Food Disgust Test: See Which Kinds of Food Trigger Your Disgust Most Strongly
This food disgust test asks you to rate 24 everyday food situations and shows your disgust profile across six domains, from animal flesh and poor hygiene to mold, texture and fishiness. Get your leading trigger, a read of each domain, and an optional PDF.
Reviewed by Michael Callans, MSW 
Food Disgust Test is a free, confidential 24-question self-assessment, original items informed by the Food Disgust Scale structure. It takes about 5 minutes, runs entirely in your browser, and gives you a plain-language profile of your strongest style plus an optional in-depth report. It is an educational screening, not a diagnosis.
Six domains of food disgust, one honest profile
Disgust is the emotion that keeps us away from things that could make us ill, and food is where it works hardest. People differ enormously in how easily it fires: one person scrapes the mold off and eats the bread, another throws out the loaf and washes the board. This self-assessment scores six domains of food disgust so you can see your full pattern and the domain that leads it, for self-reflection rather than diagnosis. The six domains are animal flesh, poor hygiene, human contamination, mold and decay, fruit and vegetable imperfections, and texture and fishiness, informed by the structure of the Food Disgust Scale, with an honest read on when sensitivity is protective and when it starts to limit you.
Your full profile, not a single label
Most quizzes on this topic produce one score or a picky-eater label. This page shows six bars: animal flesh, poor hygiene, human contamination, mold and decay, fruit and vegetable imperfections, and texture and fishiness. Food-disgust research distinguishes several kinds of response, but the six groupings on this page are our own educational design. Their distinctness and score interpretation have not been validated for these items.
Concrete situations, not abstract questions
Each of the 24 original items describes a specific moment: the vein in the chicken, the sticky table, the shared bowl of chips, the brown spot on the apple. You rate how disgusting you would find it, from not at all to extremely. Rating situations rather than agreeing with statements about yourself is how the published research measures the trait, and it is much harder to answer the way you think you should.
When sensitivity protects and when it limits
Your leading domain comes with a reading that takes disgust seriously as a protective emotion, explains where that domain's sensitivity comes from, and says plainly when a high score starts to narrow what you can eat or where you can eat it. The page links to the Picky Eater, ARFID and Sensory Processing tests for the cases where that matters, and it gives no diet advice.
| Feature | Typical free quiz | Psychology.com |
|---|---|---|
| Shows all six domains, not one score | Usually a single total or label | Yes, six bars and your leading domain |
| Grounded in the food disgust research | Rarely cited | Informed by the Food Disgust Scale structure (Hartmann and Siegrist, 2018); named, not reproduced |
| Rates concrete situations | Often agree/disagree statements about yourself | Yes, 24 original everyday food moments |
| Separates protective disgust from limiting avoidance | Rarely | Yes, with pointers to picky eating, ARFID and sensory processing |
| Clinician-reviewed interpretation | Rarely | Yes, reviewed for eating-related safety |
| Diet advice | Common | None; this is a self-reflection tool, not a food plan |
| Answers stay on your device | Often collected | Scored in your browser; only summary scores if you request a PDF or report |
The 6 patterns this test measures
- Animal flesh: Reminders that meat and fish came from an animal: bones, skin, veins, eyes, gristle.
- Poor hygiene: Dirty tables, unwashed hands, a cough over the plate, a smeared glass.
- Human contamination: Food or drink that another person has touched, bitten or sipped.
- Mold and decay: Mold spots, sour smells, soft patches, food past its date.
- Fruit and vegetable imperfections: Bruises, nibbled leaves, odd shapes, spotted skins on produce that is still fine.
- Texture and fishiness: Slimy, gelatinous or gristly textures and fishy smells, independent of safety.
If nothing is endorsed, every pattern scores the same, or the leading patterns tie, the result says so instead of naming a single pattern.
Disgust is a protective emotion
Disgust evolved to keep pathogens out of the body, and food is its home ground. Valerie Curtis and colleagues (2011) describe it as a disease-avoidance system: the things that reliably disgust people across cultures, such as rotting food, bodily fluids, poor hygiene and certain animals, are exactly the things most likely to carry infection. Paul Rozin and April Fallon's 1987 account of disgust as a food-related emotion showed that it is also learned and shaped by culture, which is why a dish that is a delicacy in one place is unthinkable in another. The nose wrinkle, the raised upper lip and the urge to push the plate away are the body's way of refusing entry before a thought has formed.
This matters for reading your result. A high score in mold and decay or poor hygiene is not a flaw; it is the system doing its job with a lower threshold than average. The question this page asks is not whether you are too disgusted, but which domains lead for you and whether any of them has started to cost you something.
Why sensitivity varies so much
Christina Hartmann and Michael Siegrist developed the Food Disgust Scale in 2018 to measure exactly this variation, and their work and the studies that followed show that food disgust sensitivity is a stable individual difference with real consequences. Egolf, Siegrist and Hartmann (2018) found that people higher in food disgust sensitivity ate a narrower range of foods, were less willing to try unfamiliar foods, and were more likely to discard food that was still safe. Sensitivity tends to be higher in women on average, is partly heritable, and is shaped by early experiences with illness or with food that was spoiled.
It also connects to broader traits. General disgust sensitivity overlaps with health anxiety and with contamination-focused worry, and people who find the texture or smell of certain foods overwhelming often have sensory processing differences more widely. None of this makes one profile correct. It does mean that the same bar can have different roots in different people, which is why the readings below ask about origins rather than assigning a verdict.
Picky eating and ARFID: when disgust limits nutrition
Food disgust and selective eating are close relatives. Many adults who describe themselves as picky eaters are really describing a low disgust threshold for particular textures, smells or the sight of certain foods, and research on avoidant and restrictive eating finds that disgust, rather than fear of weight gain, is often the emotion underneath. For most people this stays a preference: a narrower menu, some awkwardness at restaurants, nothing more. Our Picky Eater Test looks at that everyday pattern.
It becomes a health matter when avoidance narrows eating enough to affect weight, nutrition, energy or social life, which is the territory of avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID). ARFID is not a diet choice and not vanity; it is a recognized eating disorder in which sensory sensitivity, fear of consequences such as choking or vomiting, or low interest in food restricts intake in a way that harms the person. If your disgust profile is high across several domains and you recognize unintended weight loss, nutritional gaps, or meals you dread, the ARFID Test is a more specific screener, and an assessment with a clinician who treats eating difficulties is the right next step. For some people the fear of vomiting is the driver, which the Emetophobia Test covers; for others, contamination worry links more to health anxiety, which our Health Anxiety Test looks at.
Sensory processing and gentle exposure
Texture and smell sensitivity often sit inside a wider sensory profile. People who cannot bear slimy sauces, gelatinous layers or a fishy smell frequently also react strongly to clothing labels, background noise or bright light; the Sensory Processing Test looks at that broader pattern. Autistic adults and people with ADHD are overrepresented among sensory-driven selective eaters, and for them the honest frame is accommodation first: knowing which textures are off-limits and building a varied enough diet around them, rather than forcing exposure.
Where someone wants to widen what they can eat, the approach with the best support is gradual, self-paced exposure: looking at the food, having it on the table, touching it, smelling it, tasting a crumb, over weeks and with no pressure to finish. The disgust response weakens with repeated safe contact, and it weakens faster when the person is in charge of the pace. This is not diet advice and this page gives none; it is a note that disgust is trainable where that is wanted, and that a therapist experienced in eating difficulties or exposure work can structure it.
Methodology & sources
This profile is informed by the structure of the Food Disgust Scale (FDS), developed and validated by Christina Hartmann and Michael Siegrist and published in Food Quality and Preference in 2018. The FDS measures how disgusting people find a set of food-related situations and covers eight domains, including animal flesh, poor hygiene, human contamination, mold, decaying fruit and vegetables, fish, and living contaminants. We did not reproduce any FDS item. We wrote 24 original situations, four for each of six domains of our own grouping: animal flesh, poor hygiene, human contamination, mold and decay, fruit and vegetable imperfections, and texture and fishiness. The six-domain structure collapses and relabels the published domains and is our own, not the validated FDS factor structure. Each situation is rated on a five-point scale from not at all disgusting (0) to extremely disgusting (4), and the engine sums each domain to show six bars, with the highest bar as your leading domain. There are no reversed items.
This is an educational self-assessment for reflection, not the Food Disgust Scale and not a clinical instrument. Validation findings for the FDS do not establish the accuracy of this version, and we have no norms, reliability estimate, or cutoffs. A high bar means you rated those situations as more disgusting than you rated the others; it does not mean you rank high among adults, and it is not a diagnosis of ARFID, an eating disorder, a phobia, or a sensory processing difference. The page offers no diet advice. If your eating has narrowed enough to affect weight, nutrition, energy or daily life, a clinician who treats eating difficulties is the right person to assess it, whatever this profile shows.
References
- Hartmann C, Siegrist M. Development and validation of the Food Disgust Scale. Food Quality and Preference. 2018;63:38–50. doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2017.07.013
- Egolf A, Siegrist M, Hartmann C. How people's food disgust sensitivity shapes their eating and food behaviour. Appetite. 2018;127:28–36. doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2018.04.014
- Rozin P, Fallon AE. A perspective on disgust. Psychological Review. 1987;94(1):23–41. doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.94.1.23
- Curtis V, de Barra M, Aunger R. Disgust as an adaptive system for disease avoidance behaviour. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 2011;366(1563):389–401. doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0117
Cite this source
Psychology.com. (2026, October 5). Food Disgust Test. Psychology.com. https://psychology.com/tests/food-disgust
Food Disgust Test FAQ
What is the Food Disgust Scale?
The Food Disgust Scale (FDS) is a validated questionnaire developed by Christina Hartmann and Michael Siegrist at ETH Zurich and published in 2018. It asks people to rate how disgusting they find a range of food situations across several domains, and it predicts things like willingness to try new foods and how readily people throw food away. This page is informed by the FDS structure but uses its own 24 original items and its own six-domain grouping; it is not the FDS.
Is being easily disgusted by food a problem?
Usually not. Disgust is the body's pathogen-avoidance system, and a low threshold for mold, poor hygiene or spoiled food is that system working with the dial turned up. It becomes worth attention when avoidance narrows what you eat enough to affect nutrition, weight or social life, or when the worry behind it, about contamination or vomiting, takes up a lot of mental space. The readings for each domain say where that line tends to fall.
Does a high score mean I have ARFID or an eating disorder?
No. This profile is not a screening for ARFID and cannot diagnose anything. ARFID involves restriction that harms the person: unintended weight loss, nutritional deficiencies, dependence on supplements, or real interference with daily life. If you recognize that, our ARFID Test is a more specific screener and a clinician who treats eating difficulties can assess properly. If it is more a matter of a narrow menu without harm, the Picky Eater Test fits better.
Why do textures and smells bother me more than the actual food?
Texture and smell sensitivity often sits inside a broader sensory profile, where clothing, noise and light are also felt more intensely. That is common in autistic adults and in people with ADHD, and it is a processing difference rather than fussiness. Our Sensory Processing Test looks at that wider pattern. For sensory-driven avoidance, accommodation and self-paced exposure work better than being pushed.
Can food disgust be reduced?
Where someone wants to widen what they can eat, gradual self-paced exposure has the best support: seeing, touching, smelling and tasting a crumb of the food over weeks, with the person in control of the pace. The disgust response weakens with repeated safe contact. If the fear of vomiting is what drives the avoidance, that is a specific phobia with its own good treatments; our Emetophobia Test covers it. This page gives no diet advice.
Is the test really confidential?
Yes. It runs entirely in your browser. Your individual answers are scored in your browser and are never sent to us or linked to you. They stay in this tab so you can return to your result, and closing or clearing the tab clears them. If you ask us to email the PDF, we receive your summary scores with your email address, never your individual answers. No account is needed.
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