Global Progress
Maize
Recently published
New FFI report finds that voluntary fortification of corn masa flour has resulted in only 5.8% of corn masa products in the US being fortified with folic acid
FFI estimates that 42% of the world's industrially milled maize flour is fortified. See FFI’s latest annual report for an explanation of the calculation.
Worldwide, maize flour is significantly less available than wheat flour or rice. However, there are many specific populations and countries that consume a substantial amount of maize flour. Importantly, many countries that have a large amount of maize flour available for human consumption process much of the flour in small, non-industrial mills, making it a difficult grain to fortify on a large scale.
Nevertheless, maize flour fortification and industrial processing expanded in 2022. Significantly, Mexico now fortifies 65% of its industrially milled maize flour, contributing to a 4% overall rise in the amount of fortified maize flour around the globe (based on unadjusted estimates).
(a) FAO data with additional, openly available sources.
2021 estimates: 2019 FAOSTAT, New Food Balances, Food (element 5142) 2019 Data: http://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/FBS
2022 estimates: 2020 FAOSTAT, Supply Utilization Accounts, Food (element 5141) 2020 Data: https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/SCL
(b) FFI calculations.
