EWG Verified: what the mark means

The Environmental Working Group launched the program in 2015. Its 2026 criteria for personal care products set three conditions: the product must be formulated to avoid EWG's ingredients of concern, must disclose all intentionally added ingredients, and must follow good manufacturing practices.

In practice that means no ingredient from EWG's list of unacceptable ingredients. That list draws on outside evaluations, including California's Proposition 65 list, the European Union's list of substances banned in cosmetics and International Agency for Research on Cancer classifications. A second list of restricted ingredients may be used only with documents showing that concentration or contamination limits are met.

The product must also rate green in EWG's Skin Deep database, which scores products from 1 to 10. Green means a score of 1 or 2. EWG notes that the rating is not an average, so individual ingredients in a verified product need not each rate green.

Disclosure is where the mark goes further than US labeling law. The criteria require companies to list on their websites every ingredient in a fragrance or flavor mixture above 100 parts per million. Any of 26 named fragrance allergens must appear in the ingredient list when present above 0.01 percent in rinse-off products or 0.001 percent in leave-on products.

Some product types carry their own limits. A few that matter for this site's categories are below.

EWG does the review itself. A company applies, pays an evaluation fee, submits its formula and supporting documents such as certificates of analysis, and signs a licensing agreement if approved. The criteria describe a review of submitted documents. EWG reserves the right to test products randomly, including through outside labs, to confirm that labels disclose all ingredients.

EWG says it reviews its unacceptable and restricted lists at least once a year. When a change affects a licensed product, the company has 18 months to reformulate or remove the mark. Diapers, mattresses, cleaners and pet grooming products each have their own criteria document.

EWG Verified and MADE SAFE are the two ingredient-review marks you will meet most often, each working from its own lists. Neither is USDA Organic. The FDA does not define "organic" for cosmetics, and EWG Verified does not ask how plant ingredients were grown.

The mark is also not the same thing as a good Skin Deep score. Anyone can look a product up in Skin Deep. Only products whose makers applied, disclosed their full formulas and signed a license carry the mark. Our guide to product scanner apps explains how database scores like that are built.

Expect it on baby wipes, disposable diapers, mineral sunscreen and face care.