Learn About the Safer Choice Label
About Safer Choice
Finding cleaning and other products that are safer for you, your family, and the environment should be easy — that's why EPA developed the Safer Choice label. Everyone plays a role in protecting our families’ health and the environment. Products with the Safer Choice label help consumers and commercial buyers identify products with safer chemical ingredients, without sacrificing quality or performance.
Nearly 2,000 products currently qualify to carry the Safer Choice label. Safer Choice-certified products are available for use in homes and in facilities like schools, hotels, offices, and sports venues.
What does the Safer Choice label mean?
Participation in the Safer Choice program is voluntary. Companies who make products carrying the Safer Choice label have invested heavily in research and reformulation to ensure that their products meet the Safer Choice Standard. These companies are leaders in safer products and sustainability.
Products have to pass our stringent criteria in order to earn the Safer Choice label. The Safer Choice program reviews more than just product ingredients. We also look at product performance, pH, packaging and more to ensure that products with the label are safer for you and your family. Once a product meets the Safer Choice Standard, EPA conducts annual audits to ensure our standards continue to be met.
Every ingredient is reviewed: Before a product can carry the Safer Choice label, EPA reviews all chemical ingredients, regardless of their percentage in the product. Every ingredient must meet strict safety criteria for both human health and the environment, including carcinogenicity, reproductive/developmental toxicity, toxicity to aquatic life, and persistence in the environment. This means that Safer Choice-labeled products are safer for:
- You, your family, and pets;
- Workers' health; and
- Fish and the environment.
Product performance: Products that qualify to carry the Safer Choice label must pass category-specific performance standards as defined in the Safer Choice Standard. All products must perform comparably to conventional products.
Packaging: Safer Choice reviews all product packaging against criteria defined in the Safer Choice Standard. Partners are required to implement sustainable packaging measures and to improve the packaging profile for their recognized products during the partnership.
pH: Labeled products must meet pH standards that minimize the potential for skin and eye irritation or injury.
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs): Safer Choice restricts VOC content to minimize indoor air pollution and associated respiratory concerns.
Alternate Labels
In addition to the Safer Choice label above, EPA offers an optional label that product manufacturers may use on products designated for businesses, office buildings, sports venues, and schools.
EPA also has a label that indicates that a product is fragrance-free to help consumers who prefer products without fragrance. Learn more about the fragrance-free label.
Fragrance-Free Safer Choice label purposes
EPA also has a label that indicates that a product meets additional environmental criteria to help protect the environment when the product is used outdoors. Learn more about the outdoor use label.
Outdoor Use Safer Choice label purposes