Food Beverage Content Production

Food and beverage content production

Use this skill when producing food or beverage visuals for commercial, editorial, ecommerce, social, recipe, menu, packaging, or product-ad contexts. Treat the food as both a sensory subject and a regulated product: make it appetizing, but do not let aesthetics create a false product, false serving, false ingredient, false label, or unsupported claim.

This skill is not legal, nutrition, medical, or regulatory advice. For anything that could become a label claim, health claim, allergen representation, alcohol compliance issue, child-directed ad, marketplace listing, or paid media submission, prepare the creative and flag the approval required from counsel, regulatory, the brand owner, the platform, or the client.

Operating stance

Separate facts, client-provided claims, and production heuristics.

• Documented fact: information from the client brief, product label, recipe spec, signed asset library, official regulatory source, or platform requirement.
• Client claim: a statement the client wants to communicate. Require substantiation or approval before turning it into copy, packaging text, super, caption, or alt text.
• Production heuristic: a craft technique that improves appetite appeal but must stay truthful to the product.

Core rule: visuals may polish the product; they must not materially change what the customer would believe they are buying, eating, drinking, preparing, receiving, or ordering.

First-pass intake

Before prompting, generating, retouching, editing, or exporting, collect or infer enough of this checklist to avoid unsafe assumptions:

1. Deliverable type: restaurant menu item, recipe tutorial, packaged product ecommerce, paid social ad, organic social, packaging/lifestyle image, beverage pour, food-service display, marketplace listing, or editorial.
2. Product truth: exact SKU/menu item/recipe name, ingredients, visible inclusions, size, count, weight/volume, package version, current label art, claims allowed, claims banned, geographic market, and any reference photo that must be matched.
3. Risk surface: allergens, nutrition/health claims, "free-from" claims, organic/non-GMO/keto/vegan/gluten-free/healthy claims, alcohol, caffeine, supplements, infant/child audience, minors on screen, raw/undercooked food, medical/diet messaging, pricing, promotions, endorsements, or comparisons.
4. Required variants: aspect ratios, safe zones, language/locales, captions, alt text, marketplace main image versus lifestyle modules, print versus web color, and file naming.
5. Rights/provenance: brand assets, packaging art, fonts, music, locations, recognizable people, identifiable private property, stock assets, AI-generated elements, and allowed usage territories/duration.

If the brief lacks label art, package photos, recipe specs, or allowed claims for a commercial product, pause before producing final commercial assets. You can create mood boards or clearly marked placeholders, but not final factual packaging, nutrition, allergen, or claim copy.

Claim and compliance discipline

Advertising truthfulness

Documented fact: FTC advertising guidance states that advertising should be truthful, not misleading, and supported before dissemination for objective claims; health-related product claims need appropriate substantiation. See FTC Health Products Compliance Guidance and FTC Health Claims. Verified 2026-07-11.

Apply this by default:

• Do not invent "clinically proven," "boosts immunity," "heart healthy," "detox," "low sugar," "high protein," "natural," "zero," "no artificial," "non-GMO," "organic," "gluten-free," "vegan," "sustainable," or "doctor recommended" claims.
• Treat implied claims as claims. A glowing shield icon, before/after body change, lab coat, medical-looking chart, athletic performance scene, or "guilt-free" framing can imply benefits even if the words are absent.
• For comparisons such as "30% less sugar," "more protein than leading brand," or "better for kids," require the exact comparison basis and substantiation.
• For testimonials, influencers, UGC, reviews, and creator-style ads, require material-connection disclosure and typicality review. FTC endorsement guidance is context-dependent; see FTC Endorsements, Influencers, and Reviews and Disclosures 101 for Social Media Influencers. Verified 2026-07-11.
• For native or editorial-style content, ensure the commercial nature is clear; do not disguise an ad as independent food journalism or a recipe recommendation. See FTC Native Advertising: A Guide for Businesses. Verified 2026-07-11.

Escalate for approval when copy, graphics, voiceover, captions, or alt text state or imply a regulated or health-related claim.

FDA-related food labeling and menu facts

Documented facts for U.S. work, verified 2026-07-11:

• FDA's food labeling guidance summarizes required statements for many packaged foods and recommends manufacturers/importers understand applicable law before distribution: Food Labeling Guide.
• FDA identifies the major food allergens as milk, eggs, fish, Crustacean shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat, soybeans, and sesame: Food Allergies.
• FDA menu labeling applies to covered chain restaurants and similar retail food establishments with 20 or more locations under the same name offering substantially the same menu items, with calorie and additional written nutrition-information requirements for standard items: Menu Labeling Requirements.
• FDA's "gluten-free" rule uses a less-than-20-ppm threshold for unavoidable gluten in foods bearing the claim: FDA Questions and Answers on the Gluten-Free Food Labeling Final Rule.
• FDA updated the "healthy" nutrient content claim by final rule; this is a volatile area and must be rechecked before production use: FDA Use of the "Healthy" Claim on Food Labeling.

Production application:

• Never generate Nutrition Facts, Supplement Facts, ingredient lists, allergen "Contains" statements, front-of-pack claims, certifications, net quantity, barcode, manufacturer address, legal disclaimers, or seals from memory.
• If packaging is visible, match the provided current artwork. If exact artwork is unavailable, use generic placeholder packaging with no factual claims or mark the frame as a concept mockup not for publication.
• If an ingredient is visible, make sure it is present in the recipe/product or clearly identified as garnish/serving suggestion when allowed. Do not show nuts, dairy, seafood, alcohol, sesame, wheat, soy, or egg as garnish unless approved.
• If calories, macros, serving sizes, "light," "low," "reduced," "free," "healthy," "gluten-free," "organic," "plant-based," or allergen statements appear, require client/regulatory approval and source values.
• For menu boards and restaurant assets, do not invent calories, prices, location-specific availability, or portion sizes. Confirm the item's standard build.

Food safety cues

Documented fact: U.S. government food-safety sources publish safe internal temperature and raw-food handling guidance; see USDA FSIS Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart, FoodSafety.gov Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures, and FDA Flour Is a Raw Food. Verified 2026-07-11.

Do not turn food safety into medical advice. For recipe content, avoid unsafe implied behavior:

• Do not show tasting raw dough/batter, raw ground meat, unsafe raw milk claims, or unsafe cross-contamination unless the piece explicitly warns against it.
• If the recipe gives cooking temperature or doneness instructions, use the client recipe or official source and flag for culinary review.
• If visual doneness is stylized, avoid stating that color alone proves safety.

Alcohol

For beverage alcohol, treat every frame, caption, repost, influencer asset, and product page as potentially regulated advertising.

Documented facts, verified 2026-07-11:

• TTB says alcohol advertisements and retail cartons generally do not require TTB preapproval before broadcast/publication/printing, but TTB can review them for compliance on request: TTB Alcohol Beverage Advertising.
• TTB social media guidance states that advertising rules, including prohibited practices/statements, apply to social media advertising; posts on owned pages and certain reposted/liked third-party content may be considered advertising: TTB Industry Circular 2024-1.
• U.S. alcohol industry self-regulatory codes emphasize legal-drinking-age adult audiences and responsible content. See DISCUS Code of Responsible Practices, Beer Institute Advertising & Marketing Code, and Wine Institute Ad Code.

Alcohol creative guardrails:

• Do not depict minors, youth-coded styling, school/campus settings, cartoonish kid appeal, pregnant people drinking, intoxication, chugging, drinking games, pressure to drink, "liquid courage," therapeutic benefits, sexual/social success due to alcohol, or consumption before/during driving, boating, machinery, sports, or other alertness activities.
• Do not invent ABV, class/type, appellation, vintage, "low calorie," "zero sugar," "gluten-free," origin, age statement, awards, or responsible-drinking disclaimers.
• For cocktail recipes, verify product class, ABV, garnish, glassware, serving size, and whether any "mocktail" or "non-alcoholic" representation is legally and brand-approved.
• Escalate all alcohol paid media, influencer posts, age-gated landing pages, social repost strategy, and marketplace listings to the client's alcohol compliance reviewer.

Food styling and appetite appeal

Use appetite cues that are truthful to the SKU, recipe, or menu item:

• Color: preserve brand/product color. Warm highlights can make crust, sauce, syrup, cheese, coffee crema, citrus, and grilled surfaces appetizing, but avoid shifting color enough to imply different flavor, freshness, roast level, doneness, or ingredient.
• Texture: emphasize crumb, gloss, char, bubbles, condensation, frost, sauce cling, foam, crisp edges, steam, and pour viscosity. Keep texture consistent with the actual product after normal preparation.
• Composition: design a clear hero hierarchy: product/package/menu item first, appetite cue second, usage context third, claim/copy last.
• Scale: include honest cues such as hand, utensil, plate, can, bottle, bowl, slice count, scoop size, or pack size. Do not make small portions look like family-size servings unless the asset is explicitly illustrative.
• Plating: control mess deliberately. A few crumbs, drips, seeds, herbs, bubbles, or ice beads can sell freshness; random splatter reads careless.
• Freshness: use appropriate garnish only if included, suggested, or clearly optional. Avoid "ingredient theater" that misleads, such as surrounding a naturally flavored product with whole fruit/nuts it barely contains unless legally and brand-approved.
• Beverage: control glass clarity, meniscus, condensation, ice geometry, foam head, crema, bubbles, pour arc, and liquid level. Avoid impossible pours, floating ice, wrong carbonation, cloudy clear drinks, or inconsistent fill across cuts.

Production heuristic: appetite appeal usually comes from specific texture plus believable imperfection, not from maximum saturation or generic gloss.

Generated image and video prompt translation

When converting a food brief into an AI generation prompt, build the prompt from factual locks plus controlled creative variables.

Prompt components:

1. Product lock: exact product/menu item, required visible ingredients, excluded ingredients, packaging art reference, portion size, number of pieces, serving vessel, preparation state, and any required label/copy.
2. Appetite target: crisp, creamy, airy, juicy, chilled, fizzy, roasted, caramelized, flaky, steamed, velvety, glossy, fresh-cut, charred, fermented, layered, or hand-pulled.
3. Scene: tabletop, kitchen pass, bar, picnic, delivery unboxing, grocery shelf, ecommerce white sweep, restaurant interior, farm/source context, lifestyle moment, or recipe step.
4. Camera and lighting: macro, three-quarter hero, overhead flat lay, hand-held UGC, slow push-in, locked ecommerce, backlit steam, polarised bottle/glass, softbox reflection, hard sunlight, or moody bar practicals.
5. Motion beats for video: pour begins, stream stretches, splash/contact, foam/steam bloom, ingredient drop, pull-apart, drizzle, bite, wipe, pack reveal, label turn, end card.
6. Constraints: no extra ingredients, no malformed hands, no unreadable label text, no invented claims, no warped logo, keep package upright, match color reference, leave safe-zone space, no minors/alcohol, no utensils crossing label.
7. Output variants: aspect ratio, duration, fps, background transparency if needed, platform safe zones, caption space, and localization copy zones.

Use reference images whenever factual appearance matters. For exact packaging, logos, labels, menu boards, nutrition panels, or product geometry, prefer compositing/retouching from approved product photography over text-to-image generation.

Prompt pattern

Use this pattern flexibly; do not treat it as mandatory syntax:

Create [deliverable] for [brand/product/menu item].
Factual locks: [exact SKU/menu/recipe facts], [portion/serving/pack size], [approved visible ingredients], [excluded ingredients], [label/package reference must match].
Appetite direction: [texture, temperature, freshness, sensory cue].
Scene and styling: [surface, props, hands, vessel, garnish, background], [scale cue].
Camera/lighting: [lens/angle/movement], [lighting/reflection/steam/condensation].
For video: [timed action beats], [start/end state].
Truth constraints: no invented claims, no extra ingredients, no label changes, no unsupported nutrition/allergen/health copy, no misleading scale.
Delivery: [ratio/resolution/duration/safe zones/caption area/file type].

For negative prompts or repair instructions, target the specific failure:

• "Remove all almonds and nut fragments; this SKU is nut-free in the provided brief and must not imply nuts."
• "Keep the Nutrition Facts panel out of focus; do not invent readable numbers."
• "Match the bottle label from reference; do not reinterpret the logo or vintage."
• "Reduce steam; product is a chilled bottled tea."
• "Make the serving two 42 g bars, not a full tray."

Format-specific guidance

Restaurant and menu visuals

• Confirm standa

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Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: calesthio
• Source: calesthio/generative-media-skills
• License: MIT
• Homepage: https://github.com/calesthio/OpenMontage

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.