FDA To Nashoba Brook Bakery In Concord: What's Love Got To Do With It?

CONCORD, MA — The Nashoba Brook Bakery, in Concord, Massachusetts, has listed "love" as an ingredient on its Nashoba Granola label shortly after the company opened — nearly 20 years ago, the bakery said. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration says love shouldn't be listed as an ingredient on the package and took the bakery to task for doing so.

In a letter posted this week on the FDA website, the agency said ingredients have to be "listed by their common or usual name" under federal regulations.

"'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 agency said. (For more information on the Nashoba Brook Bakery and other Concord stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

Watch: Salty FDA has a problem with love as an ingredient

Listing "love" as an ingredient was just one of several violations, including a failure by the company to clean and sanitize its baking equipment and facility properly, the agency said in a statement Wednesday.

The information about the use of "love" was included but is not among the agency's top concerns, the FDA said.

The bakery's CEO, John Gates, told The Associated Press the bakery will be "fully cooperative" with the FDA. He also said the bakery has a "cleaning contract of $100,000 per year," along with a pest control contract.

Gates said the company has gotten a positive reaction from people since news of the letter began to circulate.

"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. "Because it's about the word love, it's cathartic. ... It makes it something that people can smile at."

Bakery co-owner and chief baker Stuart Witt said the company has been open nearly 20 years, and has been selling granola nearly that long. "Love," has been listed on the label from the beginning, he said.

Watch: Bakery Owner And Customers React To FDA Interference

"We feel very strongly that love is a big part of what we do," he said, adding that much care is put into baking the company's rustic, European-style sourdough bread.

"Because it's such a long process, there's so much room for error if you're not really caring and putting a lot of love into it," he said. "I always say, with our granola, you need to mix it, mix it thoroughly, and then when you're done, mix it again, and mix it again."

Witt said it's up to the government to say whether "love" should come off the label.

"We're not very happy about," he said. "But we're going to do it."

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