Every glove spec sheet quotes an AQL. Few explain it. It is the single most useful number on the page, because it tells you how strictly a batch was inspected before it was allowed to ship.
What the number measures
AQL stands for Acceptable Quality Limit. It comes from the sampling standard ISO 2859-1, and it defines the maximum percentage of defective units a batch may contain and still pass inspection.
So AQL 1.5 means: if more than 1.5% of the sampled gloves fail, the batch is rejected. A lower AQL is a stricter standard. A glove tested to AQL 1.5 has passed a tighter net than one tested to AQL 2.5.
How gloves are actually tested
For medical gloves, the defect that matters most is a hole. Gloves are sampled from each batch and filled with 1,000 ml of water, then watched for leakage — the watertight test described in EN 455-1 and ASTM D5151. A pinhole invisible to the eye will show itself as a bead of water.
Alongside it, batches are checked for physical strength — force at break before and after accelerated ageing — so a glove that is intact today is still intact at the end of its shelf life.
Reading AQL in practice
| AQL 1.0 | Very strict — typical of surgical gloves |
|---|---|
| AQL 1.5 | Strict — the BerrySure standard across every line |
| AQL 2.5 | Common minimum for general examination gloves |
| AQL 4.0 | Industrial or non-medical use |
The gap between 1.5 and 2.5 sounds small on paper. Across a hundred boxes it is not.
Why we hold 1.5 everywhere
BerrySure applies AQL 1.5 to examination gloves as well as surgical, because the barrier either holds or it does not — and the person wearing it rarely gets to choose which box they reach into. Every batch is tested, and the results are documented under ISO 13485 certified manufacturing.
When you compare quotes, compare AQLs first. It is the fastest way to tell two similar-looking gloves apart.