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.