Cereals in general, and particularly oatmeals, are considered rather sensitive to oxidation owing to their relatively high fat content. The addition of antioxidants can sometimes prolong the shelf-life of products. The aim of the present study was to investigate how the rate of lipid oxidation ora packaged oatmeal product was affected by the nature and level of antioxidants incorporated in an LDPE film structure. The stability of the product, which was determined by hexanal analysis using GC-MS and by electronic nose analysis, showed very small variations over the chosen storage period. No oxidation, as determined by hexanal levels in the oatmeal, was initiated during storage, but small variations in volatile profile were seen among the samples analysed by the electronic nose. The product stored in the BHT-impregnated LDPE film had undergone the least change during 10 weeks of storage at 20°C. ?-Tocopherol-impregnated LDPE film did not appear to prolong the shelf-life of the oatmeal at all. © 2000 Society of Chemical Industry.