This granola is made with love -- that's a problem for the FDA

“Love” might be a totally legit secret ingredient that people use in recipes all the time (ask your grandma).

But don’t expect to find it on food labels.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a buzzkill of a warning to a Massachusetts-based Nashoba Brook Bakery after reviewing the ingredients for its granola, which included “love.”

“Ingredients required to be declared on the label or labeling of food must be listed by their common or usual name,” the FDA wrote in a letter to the bakery.

“‘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,” reads the letter, which is heavy on references to the Code of Federal Regulations.

The violation was discovered during an inspection of the bakery, which has been in business for 20 years, has about 75 full and part-time employees and does about $4.5 million to $5 million in sales a year, according to Bloomberg.

“I really like that we list ‘love’ in the granola,” Nashoba Chief Executive Officer John 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 faces. 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.”

The bakery plans to comply with the FDA.

This story was originally published October 3, 2017 at 6:11 PM with the headline "This granola is made with love -- that's a problem for the FDA."