Every claim we make about these masks comes from one of two documents, and both are on this page. Read them yourself rather than taking our word for it.
Korean approval certificate
Good Manner KF94 is approved by Korea's Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) as a quasi-drug in the health mask category. MFDS assesses and approves each product in this category individually; manufacturers cannot self-declare against the standard.
The certificate covers all four variants: Large White, Small White, Large Black and Small Yellow. It sets out the approved materials, the manufacturing method, the dimensions of each variant and the manufacturing sites.
| Item code | 202000037 |
|---|---|
| Issued | 1 July 2022 |
| Issued by | Seoul Regional Office, Korean Ministry of Food and Drug Safety |
| Document number | G8GX-K07G-FTFZ-T1AJ |
| Manufacturer | Handa Health Care Co., Ltd, Yangju-si, Gyeonggi-do |
Read the certificate (PDF, Korean)
Verifying it yourself
Search item code 202000037 on Korea's Pharmaceutical Integrated Information System at nedrug.mfds.go.kr, filtering to quasi-drugs (의약외품) and classification 32200. The site is in Korean.
Laboratory test report
Testing carried out by KOTITI Testing & Research Institute in Korea, against the MFDS guideline for KF94 masks.
| Test | KF94 requirement | Measured |
|---|---|---|
| Filtration efficiency, sodium chloride | at least 94% | 99–100% |
| Filtration efficiency, paraffin oil | at least 94% | 98–99% |
| Inhalation resistance | 70 Pa or less | 8–9 Pa |
| Leak rate | at least 46 of 50 results under 11.0% | all 50 results under 11.0% |
| Earloop tensile strength | at least 10 N | 24 N |
Results shown for both untreated and pretreated samples. Report 82211509103328-001, issued 6 July 2021, on lot 21120F2.
What this report does and doesn't cover
It tested the Large White variant, on a production lot from June 2021. The filter media is common to all four variants under the Korean approval, but the testing itself was carried out on one of them.
The Korean approval has been varied since that date, so it does not test current production. We are asking the manufacturer for current reports covering all four variants and will publish them here when we have them.
It is also testing that KOTITI carried out for the manufacturer against the MFDS guideline. It is not an MFDS test, and KOTITI's report says so on its face.
Independent testing
In testing commissioned by CBC Marketplace and published in April 2021, three samples of the Good Manner KF94 (black) tested at the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health recorded filtration efficiencies of 99.2%, 99.6% and 99.9%. CBC tested 14 KN95 and KF94 brands bought at retail; half did not meet their stated filtration standard.
Those samples were bought in Canada in early 2021 and predate later changes to the product's approved materials and manufacturing method, so we cite it as independent corroboration rather than as testing of current stock. CBC and the University of Toronto tested the mask. They did not endorse or rank it.
Packaging, translated
The cartons are printed in Korean. We have translated every panel of each one, including the parts that are less flattering to us:
Counterfeits
Counterfeit KF masks are a real problem, and half the brands in that CBC test did not meet the standard printed on their own packaging. A counterfeit has no MFDS approval behind it, which means nothing has been assessed and no filtration figure can be relied on.
Good Manner masks are made by Handa Health Care Co., Ltd. Komno Store Pty Ltd, trading as kf94.au, is the authorised Australian distributor.
Good Manner KF94 is approved in Korea as a quasi-drug in the health mask category, which is a different regime from Korea's medical device rules. It is not included in the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods, and we supply it as a general consumer particulate mask. We don't supply it for clinical, surgical or aged care use.