Vitacore Industries announces production facility and recycling project in Saskatchewan

VANCOUVER — 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 Honourable 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 this afternoon.

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. Vitacore’s recycling program aims to reduce the pollution in Canada’s landfills to try and create a more sustainable future. The pilot program will begin at Saskatoon City Hospital on January 15, 2022. This follows the program’s launch in February 2021 within the Vancouver Coastal Health region, collecting nearly 3 million masks and respirators to-date.

Vitacore is producing N95 respirators and trying 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.

Vitacore was created in British Columbia during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In August 2020, Vitacore became the first Canadian company to receive Health Canada authorization to produce N95 equivalent respirators, the CAN95. Helmed by local business leaders, the privately-held company has grown to a team of 90 employees including engineers and medical professionals at its facility in Burnaby, B.C.

“We are thrilled to be working with the Government of Saskatchewan to continue bringing the highest quality masks and respirators to Canadian frontline workers,” said Mikhail Moore, president of Vitacore. “As the pandemic remains part of our lives, Vitacore is invested in driving Canadian innovation as one of the top medical respirator manufacturers in the world. With its labour force and space, Saskatchewan was an easy choice for our second facility – we thank the Honourable ministers Merriman and Reiter and look forward to sharing more details of the developments in coming months.”