Canadian company produces 1M made-in-Canada N95 masks in first week

A British Columbian company has become the first N95 manufacturer in the country to be approved by Health Canada.

Inno Lifecare announced the health authority’s approval of its made-in-Canada surgical N95 respirators on March 23.

Headquartered in Port Coquitlam, the company has produced one million masks in the days since, the company confirmed to Daily Hive.

By next week, they will be shipping 2,500,000 masks across BC and the rest of Canada. In one month they will be available throughout the county.

Inno Lifecare

According to a release, Health Canada has granted the masks a protection level of “95PFE-L3,” meaning they provide the highest level of barrier protection against airborne particles.

“We are proud that our 95PFE-L3 designated respirators have met rigorous North American standards and will play a role in keeping our courageous frontline workers safe, no matter what the future holds,” said Jae Park, the CEO and founder of Inno Lifecare.

Inno Lifecare

With 95% of the respirator’s components manufactured in Canada, dependency on US suppliers will be eliminated, the company said.

As well, the newly authorized masks will help to increase the supply of PPE in hospitals across the country.

Inno Lifecare

• See also:
  • Health Canada issues advisory over counterfeit 3M N95 respirators
  • BC company launches Canada’s first single-use mask recycling program
  • Quebec healthcare workers required to wear N95 masks starting this week

Inno Lifecare is the AI and machine learning arm of Inno Foods, one of the largest organic snack manufacturers in the world. 

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, the company pivoted from making snacks to manufacturing PPE.

“Inno Lifecare is dedicated to putting Canadians first,” Park said. “This means producing, testing, and certifying respirators in Canada so that our citizens don’t experience another shortfall in PPE.”