FDA slams bakery: Love is not an ingredient (2024)

FAQs

Can you legally claim love as an ingredient? ›

“'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 wrote in its Warning Letter.

Food manufacturers are required to list all ingredients in the food, unless ingredients are subject to an exemption from this requirement such as incidental additives.

Professional and home chefs, everywhere and forever, have claimed to rely on one special, ineffable spice that makes any dish extra-nice. Officially, however, love is not an ingredient.

The idea is that nearly everything you eat will start out as one whole ingredient that you can hold in your hand. If it has just one ingredient on the package (tomatoes, carrots, apples, brown rice, spinach, avocado, whole wheat, coconuts, etc.) it's good to go.

The Legal Background

FDA requires cosmetics to have an “ingredient declaration,” a list of all the ingredients in a given cosmetic. FDA requires this under the Fair Packaging and Labeling Act (FPLA).

Almost all packaged foods worldwide are required to have an information panel that contains nutrition facts and a list of ingredients.

All packaged foods composed of two or more ingredients are required to include an ingredient list. The ingredient statement must be legible and be correctly listed in descending order of predominance by weight. Ingredients must be listed by their common or usual names (e.g., sugar instead of sucrose).

'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." Ice cold, FDA. Nashoba's CEO, John Gates, felt similarly, telling Bloomberg that the letter "felt so George Orwell."

Which vegetable is known as the apple of love? ›

The French called the tomato the pomme d'amour, or the Love Apple, for their belief that the exotic tomato had aphrodisiac powers. Tomatoes might not be responsible for romance in people, but eating tomatoes does seem to spark a lust for more tomatoes.

Ingredients means any substance, including a food additive, used in the manufacture or preparation of a food and present in a final Product offered for sale by the Client, although possibly in a modified form.

To truly love we must learn to mix various ingredients-care, affection, recognition, respect, commitment, and trust, as well as honest and open communication.

You can choose either to request “trade secret” status for a cosmetic ingredient from FDA or to apply for a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). You cannot request both. To learn more about applying for a patent, see the USPTO's information under “Patents.”