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Cleaning products

EPA Safer Choice: what the label on cleaning products covers

Safer Choice is a voluntary label run by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It means EPA reviewed every chemical ingredient in the product, whatever its percentage, against human health and environmental criteria, and that the product also met rules on performance, pH, packaging and volatile organic compounds. It measures ingredient hazard. It says nothing about organic content.

Run by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

A person in yellow gloves and blue gloves cleaning a floor
Photo: Unsplash

What it certifies

  • Every chemical ingredient, regardless of its percentage in the product
  • Human health and environmental criteria, including carcinogenicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity, aquatic toxicity and persistence
  • Product performance comparable to conventional products
  • pH limits, restrictions on volatile organic compounds and packaging criteria
  • Disclosure of all ingredients, on the product or on an easy-to-reach website
  • Annual audits by EPA once a product qualifies

What it does not

  • Organic content: the label has no organic ingredient requirement and is not an organic certification
  • Plant-based or natural sourcing: ingredients are judged on hazard, not on where they come from
  • Fragrance-free status, unless the package shows the separate Fragrance-Free Safer Choice label
  • Disinfectants and sanitizers, which fall under EPA's separate Design for the Environment logo

How to check a claim

Look for the Safer Choice label on the package, then confirm it on EPA's Search Products that Meet the Safer Choice Standard page. You can search by product or company name and filter for fragrance-free products. A double dagger mark in the list means the company is overdue for its yearly review.

What the Safer Choice label requires

Participation is voluntary. A company submits a product, discloses every ingredient to EPA, and the product has to comply with the Safer Choice and Design for the Environment Standard. The current version of that standard is dated August 2024. EPA says nearly 2,000 products currently qualify to carry the label.

The center of the review is the ingredient list. EPA reviews all chemical ingredients, with no exceptions for small amounts, and each one must meet criteria for both human health and the environment. A product may only carry the label if each ingredient ranks among the lowest-hazard options in its ingredient class, such as surfactants or solvents.

  • Ingredients: every one is reviewed, including fragrances and ingredients a supplier keeps confidential from the manufacturer.
  • Performance: products must pass category-specific performance standards and perform comparably to conventional products.
  • pH: products must meet pH standards meant to minimize skin and eye irritation or injury.
  • Volatile organic compounds: content is restricted to minimize indoor air pollution.
  • Packaging: all packaging is reviewed, and partners must put sustainable packaging measures in place.
  • Disclosure: all ingredients, fragrances included, must be listed on the product or on an easy-access website.

What Safer Choice does not mean

Here, "safer" is a comparison within a product type. It is not a statement that a cleaner is harmless, and it is not a statement about farming.

The label versions you may see

EPA uses a small family of related labels. They share the same ingredient review. The differences tell you who the product is for or which extra criteria it met.

LabelWhat it adds
Safer ChoiceThe main label for products that meet the Safer Choice Standard
Safer Choice for business or institutional useOptional version for products used in offices, schools and similar facilities
Fragrance-Free Safer ChoiceMeets the standard and contains no fragrance ingredients
Safer Choice with outdoor useMeets extra environmental criteria for products used outdoors
Design for the Environment (DfE) logoA separate EPA logo for antimicrobial products such as disinfectants and sanitizers

Who checks, and how often

EPA does the review itself, and it keeps checking. Companies sign a partnership agreement, and EPA says false statements in it constitute criminally punishable fraud. During the three-year partnership period, the program conducts an on-site audit, a desk audit and a renewal audit to confirm that the ingredients in the product still match what was disclosed.

If a manufacturer wants to change a formula and keep the label, the new ingredient has to go through Safer Choice review first.

How Safer Choice compares with organic and other labels

USDA Organic is about how agricultural ingredients were grown and handled. Safer Choice is about the hazard profile of each chemical in the bottle. The organic rules were written for agricultural products, so on the cleaning shelf Safer Choice often does the job the organic seal does in the food aisle: it gives you a third-party check to look for.

EWG Verified is the label people most often weigh it against. They are separate programs with their own criteria, so read that page before treating the two as interchangeable.

You will find the label on all-purpose cleaners, dish soap, laundry detergent and baby laundry detergent. Our guide to non-toxic cleaning basics shows where it fits.

Questions people ask

Does EPA Safer Choice mean a product is organic?

No. Safer Choice reviews the hazard of each chemical ingredient. It does not look at whether ingredients were organically grown, and the label has no organic content requirement. If you want organic content in a cleaner, look for a separate organic certification on the package. The two labels answer different questions.

Are Safer Choice products fragrance-free?

Not necessarily. EPA allows fragrances that meet its Safer Choice Criteria for Fragrances. For people who need or prefer no fragrance, EPA offers a separate Fragrance-Free Safer Choice label for products that meet the standard and contain no fragrance ingredients. EPA's product search has a filter that shows only fragrance-free products.

Does Safer Choice mean a cleaner is natural or plant-based?

No. The review looks at what a chemical does, not where it came from. EPA points out that cleaning products marketed as natural often use chemicals made from corn or other biological sources that are chemically identical to those made from petroleum, so their potential health and environmental effects would be the same.

Can disinfectants carry the Safer Choice label?

Disinfectants and sanitizers are antimicrobial products, which EPA regulates as pesticides. For those, EPA uses a separate Design for the Environment logo. It follows a similar idea: EPA reviews every chemical ingredient, and the product must also meet the requirements of the pesticide registration process, including approved efficacy data for any claim to kill germs.

How does EPA make sure a product still qualifies?

Through audits. EPA says it conducts annual audits once a product meets the standard. During each three-year partnership period the program carries out an on-site audit, a desk audit and a renewal audit. EPA's product list also flags companies that are overdue for their yearly partnership review.

Sources

Each page was opened and read on October 11, 2026.

Where this label matters most