In February of this year, the Natural Products Association launched the Natural Home Care Standard and Certification program with the intent of giving its stamp of approval to natural cleaning products that adhered to certain strict standards.While NPA has already certified 13 finished products under this program (all Clorox Green Works items), it only recently added some raw materials to the list.

In September, NPA announced that a natural solvent from DuPont Tate & Lyle BioProducts (Zemea propanediola) became the first home care ingredient to achieve certification under its program. Shortly thereafter, three natural emulsifiers from Botaneco (Hydresia Dulce, Hydresia G2, Hydresia SF2) also received NPA’s Home Care seal.

As part of the Natural Standard guidelines, raw materials must be 100% natural and procured from renewable, natural sources “with absolutely no petroleum compounds.” It also must be processed under the NPA’s list of allowed processes. The criteria and additional information is available at www.thenaturalseal.org.

Published in WholeFoods Magazine, November 2010 (published ahead of print on September 24, 2010)