Antioxidant ability of BHT- and alpha-tocopherol-impregnated LDPE film in packaging of oatmeal

Cereals in general, and particularly oatmeals, are considered rather sensit ive to oxidation owing to their relatively high fat content. The addition o f antioxidants can sometimes prolong the shelf-life of products. The aim of the present study was to investigate how the rate of lipid oxidation of a packaged oatmeal product was affected by the nature and level of antioxidan ts incorporated in an LDPE film structure. The stability of the product, wh ich was determined by hexanal analysis using GC-2MS and by electronic nose analysis, showed very small variations over the chosen storage period. No o xidation, as determined by hexanal levels in the oatmeal, was initiated dur ing storage, but small variations in volatile profile were seen among the s amples analysed by the electronic nose. The product stored in the BHT-impre gnated LDPE film had undergone the least change during 10 weeks of storage at 20 degreesC. alpha -Tocopherol-impregnated LDPE film did not appear to p rolong the shelf-life of the oatmeal at all. (C) 2000 Society of Chemical I ndustry.