Last week, we were buzzing about the new Windmade label that will make it easier for shoppers to spot products produced using wind power. And this week, things are heating up in response to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) newest notion, a voluntary product certification and label program that will call out “biobased” buys, or the stuff made from renewable resources. In short, the new seal will be found on things that use the USDA-required percentage of renewable plant, animal, marine or forestry materials. Sounds good, right?

Well, the folks over at WalletPop recently took to the blogosphere to question the validity of the USDA organization’s newest certification in this post. They point out that products certified in the new program might not be as wholesomely made as a consumer assumes. And they raise a good point. According to this USDA fact sheet, beauty and cleaning products made with a mere 25 percent of biobased material will be able to slap on a label, if approved. That’s not much, especially considering that the USDA’s organic seal mandates a hefty 95 percent of organically produced ingredients to tout the label.

Don’t get me wrong. Something is better than nothing, right? I wonder, though, how misleading the biobased seal will be to shoppers who haven’t done their own research and may be spending hard-earned cash on products that aren’t as environmentally considerate as those without the label? After all, the everyday shopper has to weigh a dizzying number of factors when making a purchase, including energy used in production, use of recycled material, end-of-life recyclability, fair-trade certification… and the list goes on.

Bottom line: When labels pop up in stores this spring, don’t blindly trust that it’s flagging the greenest buy. Do your homework and spend your money on the products that meet nobody’s standards but your own.