These are made by Zhejiang Shengai Baby Products (as stamped on the packaging the masks came in). That's important because that's the name that these were tested under when tested by the US Centers for Disease Control's National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory. CDC posts all the test results for masks online, and you can go pull the report and read it. In this case, the Zhejiang Shengai Baby Products masks failed the CDC filtration test, meaning that out of many masks tested, some filtered less than 95%. More on those test results later. Even though they failed, it was pretty close, and I think the masks are good enough quality and way better than nothing. The CDC posts all the results of mask tests done by the National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory. They only test if the masks are sent to them. They don't go finding masks and testing them. When I looked up the mask tests on the CDC website, the big thing that I got from the test results is that NIOSH has never certified a mask that goes on with earloops, because the earloops don't give a good fit like an N95 mask would (with a loop behind the head and a second loop behind the neck). So, all these KN95 masks are missing US certification because of having earloops. So, just about no mask that is available for purchase can get a NIOSH certification, because earloops means no certification. Well, my mask made out of quilting cotton has earloops, so better filtration would still be an upgrade. Then, the CDC mask test results for how well the masks filter pretty much were good for all masks. To pass the test, an entire batch of masks would all have to filter more than 95% from the air in a filtration test. Even mask brands that failed would fail because maybe a batch of masks were tested, and most filtered more than 95% but then a couple might filter less, like 90% or 80%. Even the masks that failed on filtration still filtered pretty good with most masks filtering like 99% and every once in a while a mask filtering 85%. Reading the CDC filtration tests made me feel much better about just buying any old KN95 mask and not stressing. The duds were a little bad, not terrible. Now for these masks. The CDC has the results for all KN95 mask tests in a section of the CDC website called "International Assessment Results – Not NIOSH-approved". These masks are listed under the manufacturer name "Zhejiang Shengai Baby Products Co., Ltd." on the CDC's website. That manufacturer is not listed on the Amazon product page, but it is stamped on the plastic baggie that these come in, and you can see it in customer images of the packaging. These masks failed the 95% filtration test. That's because when the CDC tested 30 masks, two of those masks failed and filtered less than 95%. Out of the failed masks, one filtered 90.71%, and the other filtered at 89.10%. Most filtered more than 95%, including high 90s. So, these masks failed the filtration test, but it was really close. It's not terrible. At least I can pull a test and know I'm probably getting 95% and in a worst case scenario some of the masks in the pack will be at 90%. They can't get NIOSH certification because no masks with earloops can get NIOSH certification. Then, they didn't get a US emergency approval as foreign 95%, because out of 30 masks tested, two weren't there but were really close. They can resubmit to the CDC, and so could potentially resubmit and get a US emergency approval. Ultimately, I think it's OK. When I'm having to buy something that's not name brand (right now name brand, including any certified N95 mask is still reserved for medical workers only so is off the table for me), I'm worried about getting total garbage. These are pretty much at a respectable quality to where I'm OK with it. Given that all masks I can readily buy have earloops, and earloops are the fatal flaw, I think these are about as good as it gets right now. As to price... Before COVID, the 3M N95 were about a dollar and fifty cents each. Now most KN95 masks are more than that, including sometimes a lot more At the time when I got these, the price of a 10 pack was more than fifty dollars. (Some older reviews mention price, and I think that is where they are coming from - it goes up and down and has recently been super high.) Right now, it's seventeen dollars for the 10 pack. I think where the price is now that it's totally reasonable and fine. When it comes to paying a premium, these masks are good enough based on looking up the CDC test, but also based on looking at test results for other masks I tried to look for, most KN95 masks tested were also good enough for me not to worry. I would say these maybe are worth a small step up, since they did get tested by the CDC and seem good enough, but if it's a big price difference, then skip on it and see whether you find another option that also got tested by the CDC and use the test results as a "sanity check". (CDC testing is optional, so not all KN95 masks are tested, but enough are that I could find multiple options where I could click to the report on the CDC's website and do the sanity check.)
