Systematic transition from description to prediction for the oxidation in packaged olive oil

- Oxidation in “olive oil-packaging-environment” system was described mathematically.
- Four systemic descriptors in three levels were applied for the classification of current knowledge.
- A transition from phenomena descriptions to a research predictive tool is presented.
- Application of the tool was satisfactory for olive oil oxidation case study.
- The tool also allows for highly efficient research and reduced experimentation waste.

In this work, an oxidation predictive model was proposed, following a methodical consideration of the natural laws and principles that determine the phenomena occurring during the olive oil oxidation. A mathematical description was obtained via a road-map involving selected “food-packaging-environment” system descriptors. A straightforward transition from the phenomena description to the tool was also developed. For this work, oxidation of packed edible oil was tested against the developed methodology, as a characteristic exemplar to confirm and support it. In conclusion, the proposed, mathematically supported, methodology was proven to be highly appropriate and satisfactory for capturing the potential chemical-physical evolution of oxidation, and therefore, the effectiveness of the tool has been demonstrated for oxidation of edible olive oil.