ALARA stands for as low as reasonably achievable. It is a control principle: where a contaminant cannot be eliminated entirely, a producer should reduce it to the lowest level that is reasonably practical, not simply to the legal maximum. In gluten-free and allergen work it frames how a facility manages unavoidable trace transfer, supporting a claim rather than resting on a single test result.
In depth
ALARA recognizes that some hazards cannot be driven to zero at a sensible cost, so the goal is continuous reduction rather than a one-time pass. The producer identifies where trace gluten or an allergen can enter and drives each source down with cleaning, scheduling and layout controls.
For a gluten-free product, the regulatory line is under 20 parts per million, but an ALARA mindset means a facility does not treat 19 ppm as a target — it keeps cross-contact as low as its process reasonably allows and monitors that it stays there.
This is why a review looks at the control system and its records, not just a single lab number: the claim rests on a repeatable process that keeps contaminants low over time.
Related marks
- Gluten-FreeNot built for retailers mandating GFCO specifically — if yours does, we'll tell you before you pay anything.
Related terms
- Cross-contact — Cross-contact is the unintended transfer of an allergen or gluten from one food to another, usually via shared equipment, hands or airborne particles.
- Gluten — Gluten is a group of storage proteins found in wheat, barley, rye and their crosses, which some people must avoid for medical reasons.
- Parts per million (ppm) — Parts per million (ppm) is a unit for very small concentrations, equal to one milligram of a substance per kilogram of product.