MPFREE
Certification & Standards

Why MPFREE Is a Certification Mark, Not an Absolute Claim

"MPFREE Certified" means something specific and bounded — not "contains zero microplastics."

3 min read · Updated 2026-09

No analytical method can demonstrate the complete absence of any substance — only its absence above a stated, validated detection limit. That's not a marketing hedge; it's a basic fact about how measurement works, and it's why "MPFREE Certified" identifies conformance to the published MPFREE Standard, not a literal zero-content claim.

This mirrors how comparable certification marks work: "USDA Organic" denotes conformance to a defined production and testing standard, not an assertion of absolute purity. Under U.S. law, a "free-of" claim is only substantiated when any trace amount present doesn't exceed general background levels and doesn't cause the harm a reasonable consumer would associate with the substance [1] — which is precisely the scoped, method-and-matrix-specific language every MPFREE claim is required to use (see the regulatory-and-legal articles for the full claims-policy basis).

Sources

  1. [1] U.S. Federal Trade Commission. 16 CFR § 260.9, "Free-of claims," Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims. View source →