California Mandates Folic Acid in Corn Masa Products

California will require most corn tortillas and corn masa products sold in the state to be fortified with folic acid beginning January 2026, under a new law aimed at reducing birth defects and addressing persistent nutritional gaps among Latina women.

Assembly Bill 1830 makes California the first state in the United States to mandate the addition of folic acid to corn masa products, a staple in many Latino diets. The law requires manufacturers operating in the state to add 0.7mg of folic acid per pound of corn flour and to disclose the addition on nutrition labels. Small-batch producers, including restaurants and markets that make tortillas in-house, are exempt.

The policy is designed to improve maternal nutrition and lower the risk of neural tube defects, serious congenital conditions affecting the brain and spinal cord, including spina bifida and anencephaly. Research shows folic acid promotes new cell growth and can reduce birth defects by up to 70%.

While the United States has required folic acid fortification of certain enriched grain products such as pasta, rice and cereals since 1998, corn masa products were excluded. Since then, Latina women have not experienced the same decline in neural tube defects seen in other populations, prompting lawmakers to focus on tortillas as a culturally relevant intervention.

State data underscore the disparity. Between 2017 and 2019, about 28% of Latina women in California reported taking folic acid in the month before pregnancy, compared with 46% of white women, according to the California Department of Public Health. Health officials note that many women do not realize they are pregnant until weeks or months into pregnancy, increasing the importance of fortifying commonly consumed foods.

Supporters of the law say the measure is both effective and cost-efficient. Sana Jaffery, Legislative Director for Fresno Assembly and Joaquin Arámbula, the bill’s author, said it costs four pennies to fortify a ton of corn masa, compared with hundreds of dollars for dietary supplements that deliver similar nutrients. Jaffery added that lawmakers have briefly examined ways to make supplements more affordable, but said that issue falls outside the scope of the legislation.

Several large manufacturers have already fortified their products. Gruma, the parent company of Mission Foods, said it began adding folic acid to its corn masa products in 2016 after federal authorization and supports the new laws in California and Alabama. Alabama approved a similar measure months after California, with its law set to take effect in June 2026.

Public health advocates say California’s mandate reflects a targeted use of food policy to reduce health disparities. By embedding folic acid into a widely consumed staple, they argue, the state can improve maternal and infant health outcomes while minimizing cost burdens on consumers and manufacturers.