--- title: The Government Has Spoken: "Love" Is Not a Food Ingredient description: The Food and Drug Administration deemed that a Massachusetts bakery's granola ingredients list cannot include the seasoning of "love." canonical: https://time.com/4969114/fda-granola-love/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-04T18:26:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:47:45.774Z og:title: The Government Has Spoken: 'Love' Is Not a Food Ingredient og:description: We're heartbroken og:url: https://time.com/4969114/fda-granola-love/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf270a03194e3af44/6988e090cf40a81757c49aca/granola-stock.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4512 og:image:height: 2538 og:image:alt: Maple Olive Oil Pecan Granola og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Government Has Spoken: 'Love' Is Not a Food Ingredient twitter:description: We're heartbroken twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf270a03194e3af44/6988e090cf40a81757c49aca/granola-stock.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Government Has Spoken. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement.  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 4, 2017 6:26 PM UTC  WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 24: Maple Olive Oil Pecan Granola. (Photo by Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post via Getty Images) WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 24: Maple Olive Oil Pecan Granola. (Photo by Dixie D. Vereen/For The Washington Post via Getty Images) The Washington Post—The Washington Post/Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Oct 4, 2017 6:26 PM UTC The federal Food and Drug Administration is not in the mood for love. The FDA [recently reprimanded](https://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/2017/ucm577393.htm) a Massachusetts bakery for including the romantic term in the ingredients list for its granola. Unfortunately for the West Concord’s [Nashoba Brook Bakery](https://www.yelp.com/biz/nashoba-brook-bakery-concord), however, seasonings of “love” aren’t meant to be. They laid out the case against love in a warning letter: --- > “” --- The CEO of the bakery in question, John Gates, sounds a bit heartbroken over this unrequited attempt to inject some sweetness into the packaging. “Situations like that where the government is telling you you can’t list ‘love’ as an ingredient, because it might be deceptive, just feels so silly,” [he told Bloomberg News](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-10-03/fda-declares-there-s-no-love-in-granola-warns-bakery-company), calling the response “so George Orwell.” Then again, the FDA had [plenty of other](https://www.fda.gov/ICECI/EnforcementActions/WarningLetters/2017/ucm577393.htm) health and safety concerns about the bakery’s practices. The “love” thing just happens to cut to the core. And of course the internet had feelings about the FDA’s lack of sensitivity. Better luck next time, Nashoba Brook. Guess the FDA just isn’t that into you. > [](https://twitter.com/JWo860/status/915536595192877061) > [](https://twitter.com/PrettyblackVII/status/915556583832158209) > [](https://twitter.com/JohnVonB/status/915539909041180672) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4969114/fda-granola-love/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4969114/fda-granola-love/"},"headline":"The Government Has Spoken. 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