Corbion is working with manufacturers of corn tortillas to fortify their products with folic acid. At first available for enriched grains, new solutions now also include corn tortillas, to help lower birth defect risks such as spina bifida in infants.

Corn tortillas and taco kits were nearly half of the total tortilla volume in the US in 2023 and are growing faster than flour tortillas (2.3% growth), IRI Scan Data shows. Folic acid fortification of masa-based products was approved just a few years ago in the US, opening the door for manufacturers who want meet this market need.

“Corn tortillas present an important opportunity for our customers to deliver greater value – in this case, potentially life-changing value – to their consumers through enhanced nutrition,” said Scott Bieker, Vice President, Milling & Bakery at Corbion. “We’re putting our Nutrivan® solutions and our fortification expertise to work to help them seize that opportunity by bridging the folic acid gap.”

Since the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) began requiring that all enriched grain products be fortified with folic acid in 1998, the CDC estimates that about 1,300 babies per year have been born without neural tube defects who might otherwise have been affected.

Although the FDA approved the use of folic acid to fortify corn masa flour in 2016, a report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest released early this year found that only 14% t of corn masa flour products – and no corn tortilla products – contain folic acid.

Photo: Pexels (#6605198)