Is Mrs. Meyer's Really Natural? What the Certifications Actually Mean

The bottle is beautiful. Garden-fresh lavender, a farmhouse-y label, “plant-derived” language everywhere you look. You’ve probably already decided Mrs. Meyer’s is one of the good ones. Most people have.

So let’s actually check — not vibes, not label design, the real certifications and what they say.

Is Mrs. Meyer’s really natural? Partly, and its own FAQ says so directly: the products are made with “plant-based ingredients, as well as other thoughtfully chosen ingredients.” That second phrase is doing a lot of work. Let’s unpack exactly what it means and what the certifications on the bottle actually certify.

What Mrs. Meyer’s itself says

I want to start here because it’s the most honest source: the brand’s own words. Mrs. Meyer’s official FAQ states that its cleaners are made with “plant-based ingredients, as well as other thoughtfully chosen ingredients,” and notes the products are “USDA Biobased and Leaping Bunny certified.”

Read that plant-based line again slowly. It’s not saying “100% plant-based.” It’s saying some ingredients are plant-based, and the rest are “thoughtfully chosen” — a phrase that could mean almost anything, including synthetic preservatives and fragrance compounds. That’s not a lie. It’s just not what the garden-label aesthetic implies.

What USDA Biobased actually certifies

This is the certification people misread most.

The USDA BioPreferred Program explains that the Certified Biobased Product label “indicates that the product has been certified by USDA to contain the percent biobased content as shown on the label.” That’s it. It’s a content measurement — what percentage of the product, by weight, comes from renewable biological sources like plants.

It is not a safety certification. It doesn’t test for toxicity, allergenicity, or whether the remaining percentage — the non-biobased part — includes synthetic fragrance, preservatives, or dyes. A product can be, say, 35% biobased and still contain plenty of ingredients most “clean beauty” or “non-toxic” shoppers would want to avoid. The label tells you about the plant math. It doesn’t tell you about the chemistry.

What Leaping Bunny actually certifies — and what it doesn’t

The Leaping Bunny Program is a genuinely meaningful, independently audited certification. It verifies that a brand and its ingredient suppliers don’t conduct animal testing anywhere in the supply chain. Mrs. Meyer’s carrying this certification is a real, earned claim, and I won’t pretend otherwise.

But cruelty-free and non-toxic are two completely different questions. A product can be 100% cruelty-free and still contain synthetic fragrance, preservatives, or ingredients someone with asthma or sensitive skin needs to avoid. Leaping Bunny tells you nothing about what’s actually in the bottle — only how it was tested.

The fragrance question nobody puts on the label

Here’s the piece that ties it together. Like the vast majority of scented cleaning products — including plenty of “natural-adjacent” brands — Mrs. Meyer’s lists “fragrance” as a single ingredient on the front of the bottle. Under FDA rules, that one word can legally represent a mixture of individual chemicals a company doesn’t have to name, protected as a trade secret.

Scent names like Lavender, Basil, or Lemon Verbena describe the idea of the scent, not necessarily its chemical source. A “Lavender” fragrance can be built from synthetic aroma compounds engineered to smell like lavender, real lavender essential oil, or some blend of both — and the front label won’t tell you which. That’s not unique to Mrs. Meyer’s; it’s the standard the entire fragranced-cleaner category still operates under. It’s just at odds with the garden-fresh story the packaging tells.

So is it “really natural”?

Here’s the honest verdict: Mrs. Meyer’s is a legitimately better-than-average conventional cleaning brand on two specific, verifiable claims — cruelty-free (Leaping Bunny) and partial renewable-source content (USDA Biobased). It is not a fully natural, fully plant-derived product, and the brand’s own FAQ says as much if you read past the marketing.

If “natural” matters to you as a genuine ingredient standard — not just a feeling from the packaging — the thing to look for is a brand that tells you every single ingredient, including exactly what makes up its fragrance, rather than a certification that measures something adjacent to the question you’re actually asking.

That’s the standard we built Ecolosophy’s plant-based concentrate to meet: every ingredient named, no undisclosed “fragrance” blend, real essential oils or nothing at all. One bottle makes 100+ spray bottles, so you’re not restocking a shelf of “thoughtfully chosen” mystery ingredients every month. For the direct side-by-side, see our Mrs. Meyer’s vs. Ecolosophy comparison, and if you want the deeper dive on the fragrance loophole itself, read this next.

Certifications are a starting point, not a finish line. Read what they actually measure before you let a label make the decision for you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Mrs. Meyer’s really natural? Partly. Mrs. Meyer’s own FAQ says its products are made with plant-based ingredients “as well as other thoughtfully chosen ingredients” — its own language confirms the formulas aren’t 100% natural or plant-derived. Some ingredients are plant-based; others, including fragrance components, are not disclosed as such.

What does the USDA Certified Biobased label on Mrs. Meyer’s actually mean? It certifies the percentage of the product that’s made from renewable biological (plant, animal, or marine) sources, as verified by USDA testing. It does not certify that a product is non-toxic, hypoallergenic, or free of synthetic ingredients — a product can carry the label and still contain synthetic fragrance and preservatives.

Is Mrs. Meyer’s cruelty-free? Yes — Mrs. Meyer’s is Leaping Bunny certified, which is a real, independently audited standard verifying the brand and its ingredient suppliers don’t conduct animal testing. That’s a genuine claim you can trust; it just doesn’t tell you anything about what’s inside the bottle.

Does Mrs. Meyer’s disclose its fragrance ingredients? Not individually, on the front label. Like most conventional and “natural-adjacent” cleaning brands, Mrs. Meyer’s lists “fragrance” as a single ingredient, which under FDA rules can legally stand in for a mixture of undisclosed compounds protected as trade secrets — a full ingredient glossary is available separately, but the front label doesn’t spell it out.

What’s a truly transparent alternative to Mrs. Meyer’s? Look for a brand that publishes its complete ingredient list — including exactly what’s in its fragrance, or skips synthetic fragrance entirely in favor of real essential oils. Ecolosophy’s plant-based concentrate discloses every ingredient by name, with no undisclosed fragrance blend, and one bottle makes 100+ spray bottles.

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A pretty label isn’t a full ingredient list. See what full transparency actually looks like →

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