What Is the Clean Label Project®?

For consumers, a supplement label can show the ingredients intentionally added to a product, but it does not always reveal everything that may be present in the finished formula. Environmental and industrial contaminants can enter products through raw materials, cultivation, processing, manufacturing, or packaging.

This is where Clean Label Project® comes in.

Clean Label Project® is a national nonprofit organization focused on bringing greater transparency to food, supplements, and other consumer products. Its programs use independent product testing to evaluate substances that may not appear on a conventional ingredient label, including heavy metals, pesticide residues, plasticizers, and other chemicals of concern.

Clean Label Project® Certification already involves rigorous testing and compliance standards. The Purity Award represents an even higher level of recognition, adding comparative category benchmarking and requiring qualifying products to perform among the top one-third of products tested in their category.

How Clean Label Project® Builds Trust

An important part of the Clean Label Project® approach is how products are selected for testing.

Rather than relying only on samples supplied directly by manufacturers, Clean Label Project® purchases products through normal consumer channels, including retailers, online marketplaces, local stores, and brand websites. This Consumer Chain of Custody process is designed to test products representative of what consumers can actually purchase.

Products are then sent to independent, accredited analytical laboratories. Clean Label Project® states that certification testing is conducted annually by third-party ISO/IEC 17025-accredited laboratories.

Depending on the product category, testing can include:

• Heavy metals

• Pesticide residues

• Glyphosate

• Phthalates

• Bisphenols

• Other industrial or environmental contaminants

Clean Label Project® standards are informed by sources including California Proposition 65, European Union regulations, U.S. federal and state regulations, and Clean Label Project® category data.

This approach evaluates the finished product itself, adding independent verification beyond ingredient specifications or a manufacturer's internal quality controls.

Clean Label Project® Purity Award vs. Certification

Clean Label Project® Certification already represents meaningful independent testing. The Purity Award adds another layer by comparing a product's results with other tested products in the same category.

The main difference is comparative performance.

To receive the Clean Label Project® Purity Award, a product must meet applicable compliance requirements and have laboratory results that rank within the top 33% of products tested in its category.

Clean Label Project® only offers the Purity Award in categories it has comprehensively studied, allowing results to be evaluated against a meaningful body of category data.

Why the Clean Label Project® Purity Award Matters

The Purity Award brings together several layers of independent evaluation:

marketplace sampling, accredited laboratory testing, contaminant screening, compliance review, and category benchmarking.

A product does not receive the award simply because a manufacturer says it follows high quality standards. The finished product is independently purchased and tested, and its results must compare favorably with other products in its category.

Clean Label Project® also emphasizes ongoing quality. Its program recognizes that one test result alone does not establish continued performance, which is why participating brands are expected to maintain appropriate quality assurance practices over time.

For consumers, this provides an additional way to look beyond the ingredient list and consider how the finished product performs under independent purity testing.

What the Purity Award Means for Astadaily®

Astadaily® Astaxanthin Pure has earned the Clean Label Project® Purity Award, making Astadaily the first astaxanthin brand to receive this recognition. 

The recognition provides independent support for Astadaily’s focus on product purity, quality, and transparency. By meeting the Clean Label Project® requirements and ranking within the top one-third of products tested in its category, Astadaily Astaxanthin Pure adds third-party verification to the quality standards already built into its production process.

For consumers, this offers an additional level of confidence that extends beyond the ingredient label and into the purity of the finished product itself.

FAQs

1. Can you reduce heavy metals completely?

Given that they are naturally occurring, you can never eliminate them completely, but you can take steps to reduce them. Testing helps determine where products fall within a category and identify opportunities to reduce them.

2. What does CLP Certified mean?

It means products have been independently tested for contaminants to meet Clean Label Project® standards and provide consumers with additional confidence in product quality.

3. Aren’t contaminants regulated?

There are regulations around certain contaminants, but requirements can vary by product type and jurisdiction. Clean Label Project® adds another layer of independent testing focused on substances that may not appear on a conventional ingredient label.

4. How do heavy metals get into foods?

Heavy metals occur naturally in the environment and can be released through processes such as erosion, weathering, and volcanic activity. They can also be introduced through industrial activity, agriculture, mining, and pollution.

5. What are CLP standards based on?

Clean Label Project® standards incorporate established regulatory benchmarks and independent product testing. For the Purity Award, category benchmarking is also used to compare products and identify top performers.

6. What is the Clean Label Project® Purity Award?

The Clean Label Project® Purity Award is a higher-level recognition for products that meet rigorous testing standards and perform among the top products in their category for purity.

7. How is the Purity Award different from Clean Label Project® Certification?

Clean Label Project® Certification verifies that a product meets established testing and compliance standards. The Purity Award goes further by comparing products within their category and recognizing those that rank among the top performers for purity.

8. What does “top one-third of the category” mean?

For the Purity Award, Clean Label Project® benchmarks products against others in the same category. Qualifying products must perform among the top one-third of tested products within that category.