What’s love got to do with it?
That’s the question the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is asking after a wholesale bakery in Massachusetts listed the emotion as an ingredient in its granola.
Nashoba Brook Bakery was called out by the federal agency in a letter posted on the government’s website on Sept. 22. In the note, the FDA questions why love was listed among other (real) ingredients, such as oats and sugar.
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“Your Nashoba Granola label lists ingredient ‘Love,'” the letter reads. “‘Love’ is not a common or usual name of an ingredient, and is considered to be intervening material because it is not part of the common or usual name of the ingredient.”
The FDA goes on to say that the bakery violated food labelling regulations by misbranding the item.
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John Gates, the CEO of the bakery, said the FDA’s decision take the ingredient so seriously “just felt too George Orwell.”
“I really like that we list ‘love’ in the granola,” Gates told Bloomberg.
“People ask us what makes it so good. It’s kind of nice that this artisan bakery can say there’s love in it and it puts a smile on people’s face.”
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The FDA also had other concerns about the bakery, which it outlined in the letter, including sanitary issues.
Gates told The Associated Press that the company, which sells its products to dozens of stores, will be “fully cooperative” with FDA’s demands.
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He added that many Americans have reached out to the bakery to show support.
“It taps this feeling that a lot of Americans have that there are ways in which the government can overreach, and it seems kind of silly,” Gates said.