Economic comparison of two standard methods (Colorimetric & HPLC) to measure of nitrate in meat products

Nitrate is the one of flavors compounds, color stabilizer and inhibits the growth of anaerobic microorganisms in meat products. Its high levels in food can cause methaemoglobinaemia and is recognized as carcinogenic. Therefore, accurate determination of nitrate is crucial to ensure consumer health. Regularly, nitrate is estimated by Colorimetric and HPLC methods. For nitrate measurement, the efficiency, accuracy, speed and amount of material are important from economical point of view. In this study, the cost of initial investment, staff, consumable material and non-consumable equipments used by the two methods were calculated and finally Net Present Value (NPV) was calculated for each of them. The rate of interest was considered from 4 until 30%. The results showed that the amount of initial investment, annual cost of staff and consumable materials for Colorimetric method were 274000000, 379080000 and 214289130 Rials, respectively. These costs for HPLC method were 342000000, 252720000 and 7633080 Rials, respectively. Finally, NPV in minimum and maximum rates of interest (4 and 30%) for Colorimetric method were equal to 8368344000 and 2242330000 Rials and HPLC method were estimated at 4035848000 and 1207544000 Rials. As a result, HPLC is more economical (NPV is two times lower of Colorimetric method) and this technique could be recommended for the routine measurement of nitrate in laboratories of regulatory agencies.