How to Read a Corn Tortilla Label

At the top of the Nutrition Facts panel, find the serving size and the number of servings per container. The first tells you the amount of food behind the figures below it. The second tells you how many of those servings are in the package.

For tortillas, the serving is described in pieces and grams. Both are useful. Pieces help you picture lunch; grams help you compare the amount of food in differently sized tortillas.

As the FDA explains serving size, it reflects an amount people typically consume. Your appetite and the meal you are making will determine your own portion.

Our ten-count Original pack contains five labeled servings. You might use two tortillas for one meal and four for another. Once you know how your portion relates to the serving, you can read the rest of the panel with that quantity in mind.

When comparing packages, check their serving weights before comparing the numbers. A smaller portion will naturally tell a different nutritional story.

The ingredient list is another way into the food. Ingredients generally appear in descending order by weight, so the beginning of the list tells you what makes up the greatest share.

Our Original and Street Taco tortillas begin with three ingredients: organic corn, water, and slaked lime. Each has a job in preparing corn for a tortilla. Our Turmeric tortillas add turmeric, bringing an earthy flavor and golden color to the same basic preparation.

Reading this way helps you move from recognizing an ingredient's name to understanding its purpose. It also helps you identify the particular ingredients you want to include in your meals.

Some packages have longer lists. An ingredient may help retain moisture, adjust acidity, or preserve freshness. The FDA's guide to food ingredients explains these common roles. Calcium propionate, for example, is used as a preservative.

We make our tortillas without preservatives. Our choice keeps the recipe centered on the corn and the work of preparing it. The package's storage instructions explain how to care for the finished food at home.

Slaked lime may be the least familiar ingredient in that short list. Here, lime means food-grade calcium hydroxide, the alkaline ingredient used in nixtamalization.

At VTC, we cook and steep whole corn with lime and water, then wash it and stone-grind it into fresh masa. The treatment changes the grain so it can become the dough we shape into tortillas. You can follow the sequence in our tortilla-making process.

The preparation also affects the corn's nutritional qualities. CIMMYT's explanation of nixtamalization describes increased calcium content and greater availability of niacin, a form of vitamin B3. The calcium line on a particular tortilla's label tells you the amount in its serving.

You may also encounter masa harina, or corn masa flour. This is prepared flour made from nixtamalized corn. Water turns it into workable dough again. Masienda describes the connection in its guide to masa harina.

Fresh masa and masa harina share that earlier preparation of the grain. We choose to stone-grind fresh masa for our tortillas; recognizing the terms helps you understand the starting point another maker may use.

Here are a few figures from our three tortilla labels. Each column shows the amount in that product's printed serving; notice the small difference in serving weight.

You can read the complete Nutrition Facts for Original, Street Taco, and Turmeric.

Now imagine preparing four Original tortillas. That is two labeled servings. Multiplying the printed amounts gives 240 calories, 6 grams of fiber, and 10 milligrams of sodium for the tortillas. Four Street Taco tortillas are one serving, with the amounts shown in their column. The same number of tortillas can represent quite different portions.

The percentage column on the full label adds another reference point. Percent Daily Value, or %DV, describes how much a serving contributes to the daily reference amount for a nutrient. The FDA's general guide describes 5% DV or less as low and 20% DV or more as high for an individual nutrient.

Our Original label lists fiber at 11% DV and calcium at 6% DV. Sodium appears as 5 milligrams and 0% DV. That last example is a useful reminder to read the amount alongside the displayed percentage: the label still reports those 5 milligrams.

Choose the lines that help answer your question. You might want to compare fiber, check sodium, or see whether there are added sugars. Keeping the portion and units in view makes that comparison more useful.

The organic wording tells you about how ingredients were grown and the food was produced. At VTC, choosing organic corn is part of our attention to the ingredient at the center of our tortillas.

USDA's labeling categories give common package terms specific meanings. “100 percent organic” describes all-organic ingredients. “Organic” requires at least 95 percent organic ingredients, with rules for the remainder. “Made with organic…” requires at least 70 percent and cannot carry the USDA organic seal. These calculations exclude salt and water.

Organic production also prohibits genetic engineering. That connects the organic and non-GMO language you may see when learning about our corn.

The ingredient statement can help you identify which ingredients are organic. Together with the seal and certification information, it gives you a fuller understanding of that production choice. The Nutrition Facts panel supplies the separate information about the nutrients in your serving.

Corn is naturally a gluten-free grain. On a package, a gluten-free claim applies to the finished food, including its ingredients and preparation.

The FDA's gluten-free definition includes ingredient requirements and a limit of less than 20 parts per million for unavoidable gluten. Our Original, Street Taco, and Turmeric tortillas are described as gluten-free in their product information.

If you are choosing food around an ingredient allergy, read the full ingredient information as well. A major allergen can be identified within the list or in a separate “Contains” statement. A “may contain” statement concerns possible cross-contact, such as contact through shared equipment, and is voluntary. The FDA explains these distinctions in its guide to reading labels for food allergies.

These statements answer different questions. Organic describes production choices; gluten-free addresses gluten in the finished product; the ingredient information helps you check for the particular foods you need to avoid. Reading them together gives each its useful place.