How We Rate

How the rating system works

Greenwashing and cleanwashing (companies claiming to be a “healthy” brand when their ingredients aren’t clean) run amuck in the food industry. Is It Clean’s ratings allow you, the consumer, to see through these claims and make educated decisions by gathering the world’s most reliable public sources, every product’s ingredients, and public information available from the brands so you can trust we have the right information. We then use a simple 5 point rating for how clean the food is. 

Every company today has a responsibility to be a net positive. That means they are good for  the planet and all living things on the planet.

Why should a company strive to be a net positive for society?

A healthier humanity

A more sustainable planet

A more equitable, ethical society

How we rate food brands

Health is like a bank account, certain ingredients make a deposit into your health bank, meaning they add to your health. Certain ingredients withdraw from your health bank. We want health promoting ingredients in our diet. It’s that simple. But we can’t rely on labels of certified organic and non gmo alone. It’s not that black and white. That is why Is It Clean brings all this information into one place to see the risks and benefits of what you consume.

We rate each food on a 5 “ ” rating.

The components we analyze for our ratings are:

  1. Health promoting ingredients: Health is like a bank account, certain ingredients make a deposit into your health bank, meaning they add to your health. Certain ingredients withdraw from your health bank. Are the ingredients in the food health promoting? 
  2. Organic: Is the food certified organic? Were they certified by a reputable certifier?
  3. Non-GMO: Does the food contain GMOs? If so, are those GMOs proven to be health promoting with no adverse effects?
  4. Additives: Does it contain additives, if it has additives – are they harmful?
  5. Added Sugars: Does it contain added sugars, if it has added sugars – what kind?
  6. Toxicity of ingredients: Are the ingredients potentially toxic to consumers? For example, does the company test its bone broth or canned tuna for heavy metals? Some companies are transparent about this and some are not.
  7. Plasticity: Does the food come in plastic? Does it come in another harmful packaging?

What we define “Clean” as

We can’t rely on labels of certified organic and non gmo alone. That’s why Is It Clean brings all this information into one place to see the risks and benefits of what you consume. We define clean as any food that is made up of organic, health promoting ingredients. A “clean” food has no additives, GMOs, fillers, chemicals, or processed added sugars. The food is also packaged in a container that is known to be safe for humans. For example: Plastic containers have been linked to decreased fertility, low sperm counts, and cancer rate increases, while cardboard and glass packaging is safer with less side effects. This is a high standard, and we believe it is the standard to hold food companies to. Everyone deserves to have access to healthy, nourishing foods.

Clean

The ingredients are certified organic from a credible certifier. There are no additives, added sugars, fillers, GMOs, or chemicals. All the ingredients are real whole foods and health promoting. The food is not packaged in plastic or other harmful packaging.

Good

There are no GMO’s (Non GMO certified), fillers, chemicals, or potentially harmful additives (Sunflower Lecithin would be okay). The food may have added sugars like brown rice syrup or Agave syrup, but no high fructose corn syrup or other highly harmful added sugars. The food is not packaged in plastic or other harmful materials.

Average

The food may have additives like gums or oils that are or are not naturally occurring in food but do not have any data showing it has a harmful effect on the body in the amount in foods (Ex. Gellan gum, Guar Gum). It may have added sugars. It may have natural flavors. The food may be packaged in plastic.

Not Clean

The food has harmful additives, has GMO’s, has fillers, and or may have added sugars of any kind. The food may be packaged in plastic or other harmful materials.

Avoid

The food has many harmful additives, known cancer-causing ingredients, has harmful food colorings, GMOs, gums, oils, and is overall really harmful to digest. (Ex.Soda, the lowest junk food like Hostess, or candies that have dyes like Red 40).

How we rate ingredients

Health is like a bank account, certain ingredients make a deposit into your health bank, meaning they add to
your health. Certain ingredients withdraw from your health bank. We want health promoting ingredients in our diet. To keep things simple, we rate ingredients on a green, yellow, red scale:

Clean

It is naturally occurring in food and has no harmful effects on the body. It is real food. It is health promoting.

Caution

It goes into one or more of the below categories

We Avoid

It is known to have a harmful effect on the body (ex. All food colorings, Natural Flavors, MSG, Potassium bromate, aspartame, artificial flavors)

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