The conventional correlation statistics was used to measure and interpret the degree of agreement between the EPBA and MA methods. However, Bland and Altman (1986) reported that statistical analysis could give quite a high correlation and no significant difference with data that seemed to be in poor agreement. For example, although the r value was 0.89, difference in folic acid value of some samples was higher than 10%. A plot of the difference between the methods against their mean (Fig. 4) displayed considerable lack of agreement between the MA and EPBA, with discrepancies up to 68lg/100 g. The 95% confidence interval for the lower and upper limit of agreement was 25.8 to - 160.6 and 25.6 to 160.4lg/100 g, respectively.