California has become the first US state to require food manufacturers to add folic acid to corn masa flour, a staple in tortillas and other traditional Latino foods, in a bid to reduce neural tube defects that disproportionately affect Hispanic infants. The law, which took effect in January, aims to address a long-standing gap in public health policy.
Andrea Lopez, a Bakersfield lawyer who lost her son Gabriel to a neural tube defect 15 years ago, said the measure offers hope that other mothers may be spared similar grief. “It’s such a small effort for such a tremendous impact,” she said. “There is very little that I wouldn’t do to spare anybody this heartache.”
Folic acid has been required in enriched wheat and white breads, cereals and pastas since 1998, cutting rates of spina bifida and anencephaly by about 30% and preventing around 1,300 cases a year. However, corn masa flour was excluded, leaving Hispanic women with twice the rate of these defects as white or Black women in California.
Alabama will implement a similar law in June, and legislation is pending or under consideration in Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma and Oregon. Four more states — Texas, Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania — have expressed active interest, according to the Food Fortification Initiative.
Industry response has been swift. Gruma Corp., parent of Mission Foods and Azteca Milling, now fortifies 97% of its US retail corn masa flour sales, with the remainder expected to be compliant by July. Mission Foods began fortifying all its branded and private label corn tortillas in 2024.
“The science is clear: Folic acid fortification works,” said Vijaya Kancherla, an Emory University epidemiology professor. “It’s safe. It’s proven. And it’s cost-effective.” Critics, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have labelled the requirement government overreach, but supporters argue the public health benefits outweigh such concerns.
