A Burnaby company that produces six million medical-grade masks a month to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 has announced that it is expanding.
Vitacore Industries Inc. has announced it will be opening a full-scale production facility in Saskatchewan for the manufacturing of medical equipment and PPE in 2022.
This information was shared by the Jim Reiter, minister of SaskBuilds and Procurement, when he introduced Mikhail Moore, president of Vitacore, and John Sprague, director of operations, at the Saskatchewan Legislature.
Helmed by local business leaders, the privately-held company has quickly grown to a team of 90 employees, including engineers and medical professionals at its state-of-the-art facility in Burnaby.
The company will also expand its end-to-end recycling program for single-use masks and respirators to the region in a pilot program with the Saskatchewan Health Authority.
“The first of its kind in Canada, Vitacore’s recycling program aims to reduce the pollution in Canada’s landfills and create a more sustainable future,” said a news release.
The pilot program will begin at Saskatoon City Hospital on Jan. 15, 2022. This follows the program’s launch in February 2021 within the Vancouver Coastal Health region, collecting nearly three million masks and respirators.
“Vitacore is the first and only Canadian company producing N95 respirators to receive Health Canada Authorization and certification by CSA Group and European CE (FFP3) for their CAN95 and CAN99 respirators; the CAN99 achieved 99-100% filtration efficiency in national and international assessments,” said a news release. “These certifications demonstrate that Vitacore’s CAN99 respirators follow the safety standards required for medical use.”
