How We Work With Companies

EWG Verified® and EWG Reviewed for Science®

EWG Verified® aims to be the gold standard in the health and wellness space.

As the leading nonprofit educating consumers on the health and safety of everyday products, and in furtherance of its mission, EWG offers companies its EWG Verified® and EWG Reviewed for Science™ programs for personal care, cleaning and diaper products. Together with our partner companies, EWG intends to change the marketplace to offer consumers products that are safer for their health and the environment.

Almost 20 years ago, EWG developed EWG’s Skin Deep®, one of the world’s first online databases to score tens of thousands of personal care products for human health and safety. EWG created the database in order to move markets to adopt better ingredient safety and transparency standards and provide consumers with practical solutions to protect themselves and their families from everyday exposures to chemicals.

Similarly, EWG created its Guide to Healthy Cleaning to achieve transparency for cleaning products. EWG’s Skin Deep and Guide to Healthy Cleaning together rate 120,000+ products from 6,000+ brands. Through these databases, we reach millions of consumers a year, all interested in buying healthier products.

Following the success of EWG’s databases informing consumers about chemical exposure through the products they use, and rising demand for EWG’s approval in the marketplace, EWG created EWG Verified and EWG Reviewed for Science. The goal of these two EWG programs is to help consumers find healthier products and to help committed and conscientious brands create products that are better for the health of consumers.

We pursue these goals at every stage of the process – formulation design, product ingredient decisions and consumer awareness.

Product Level Certification

EWG
VERIFIED®

A licensing program that enables brands to differentiate their products in the marketplace and help consumers identify healthier products at the point of sale.

To drive companies toward healthier, safer personal care, cleaning and diaper products, EWG created EWG Verified, a licensing program that enables brands to differentiate their products in the marketplace and help consumers identify healthier products at the point of sale.

Consumers know that a product with the EWG Verified seal meets EWG’s strictest standards for their health. That means none of EWG’s chemicals of concern. It means full transparency. It means good manufacturing practices. EWG Verified is a mark they can trust.

The scientific standards behind our EWG Verified program are the strictest available today. They are backed by decades of research and expertise in chemical safety and human health. EWG Verified has thousands of products and is growing rapidly.

Consultancy & Ingredient Review

EWG
Reviewed®
for SCIENCE

A scientific consultancy program in which brands,formulators, and ingredient suppliers collaborate with EWG scientists to improve Skin Deep Scores or develop products that meet our rigorous EWG Verified standard.

To help brands formulate their products to our strict standards, EWG created a science collaboration program with private sector companies called EWG Reviewed for Science. We are a team of scientists, technical experts and engineers. Working together, we leverage EWG’s trusted ingredients ratings to create products that meet EWG’s strictest standards.

EWG’s experts are ready and willing to work with companies to find the best solutions that meet EWG’s strictest standards for health. We rely on the science and data from EWG’s three databases to support this program, and we can assess the following categories:

  • Personal care products in one of the approved categories
  • Cleaning products in one of the approved categories
  • Baby diapers
  • Mattresses
  • Pet grooming products
  • Ingredient safety review and scores
  • Ingredient review for compliance with EWG Verified personal care product standards.  

We work with brands to help them understand EWG’s rating systems and our standards for chemical safety. EWG has a team of scientists, technical experts and engineers ready and willing to help companies understand and meet EWG’s strictest standards for human health and safety.

We call this program EWG Reviewed® for Science because we want to work with companies at the very beginning of formulation. For personal care, we use EWG’s Formulator Assistance Tool, or FaST, to analyze formulations and provide our partners detailed reports on the status of the formulation. We also work with suppliers to review their single main component trade name ingredients. 

FaST

EWG’s Formulator Assistance Tool analyzes product formulations and provides partners with detailed reports on the formulation’s score on Skin Deep.

EWG’s proprietary formulator tool, powered by Skin Deep, serves product formulators by providing a thorough analysis of formulations and their ingredient scores. This process allows companies to make changes to their formulas during the product development phase, with the goal of helping brands make products that meet EWG Verified® standards. FaST is the only tool on the market to determine a product’s score on Skin Deep.

EWG Reviewed® for Ingredients

EWG Reviewed for Ingredients empowers ingredient suppliers to fast-track their clients’ journey to EWG Verified® by offering trade name specific ingredient reviews against EWG Verified’s personal care product criteria. 

By meeting EWG Verified’s rigorous standards earlier in the supply chain, suppliers help brands eliminate costly substantiation delays and bring EWG Verified® products to market faster. Ingredients that have successfully gone through EWG Reviewed™ for Ingredients and meet our EWG Verified personal care products program criteria will receive a special logo and certificate highlighting that they meet EWG’s strictest personal care product criteria for the EWG Verified® program.

Use of a Reviewed ingredient in a product does not automatically grant EWG Verified status to the product. Approval of an EWG Verified® product requires complete compliance with all EWG Verified® criteria standards.

To apply to the Reviewed for Ingredients program, ingredients must meet these eligibility criteria:

  • Appear on EWG’s Eligible for Reviewed List
  • Intended for use in personal care product formulations
  • Ingredients must be identified using both their trade name and INCI name
  • Represent a single main component trade name ingredient. Ingredient mixtures are not currently eligible for review.

For more information on EWG Reviewed™ for Ingredients and costs, please click here.

EWG Reviewed™ for Science FAQ

Q: If my product formulation goes through the EWG Reviewed™ for Science program, does that mean it is automatically EWG Verified®?

A: Although EWG Reviewed™ for Science helps brands formulate products, with the possibility of EWG Verified® eligibility, going through the process does not guarantee that the product will be eligible for licensing. EWG Verified® criteria include a review of packaging text, claims, intended uses and other items that are assessed upon the submission to an EWG Verified® program.



Q: If my ingredient goes through the EWG Reviewed™ for Science program for ingredients, does that mean it is automatically EWG Verified®?

A: No. EWG Reviewed for Ingredients confirms that a single main component trade name ingredient meets the standards for use in an EWG Verified® personal care product.



Q: Is there a limit to the number of product formulations or tradename ingredients that can be assessed through EWG Reviewed™ for Science?

A: We can review hundreds of formulas and tradename ingredients throughout a year-long partnership and start immediately. We will work with the company to develop key milestones that reflect product development timelines and go-to-market plans.



Q: How does EWG cover the costs for EWG Verified® and EWG Reviewed™ for Science?

A: By helping bring products to the marketplace that are safe for consumers’ health products, both programs further EWG’s mission of empowering people to live a healthier life in a healthier environment. Companies pay a fee to participate, which helps fund EWG Verified® and EWG Reviewed™ for Science.



Q: What is the cost of EWG Reviewed™ for Science?

A: The cost depends on the size of the company, the number of products being assessed and the timeline. Our consultancy engagements range from one month to a year in duration.

Interested in learning more about EWG Reviewed™ for Science? Please contact us here.