Food & Beverage

The susceptibility of Food & Beverage manufacturers to the risk of fire damage can be high. The use of heat in processing food and beverage ingredients and the storage of potentially hazardous materials can be compounded by the construction of the premises, often including combustible composite panels which can promote rapid fire spread. Good standards of fire protection, housekeeping and management, maintenance and protection against criminal activity are key mitigators of these risks. Zurich’s risk experts are experienced in advising on appropriate loss prevention measures and our broad expertise can greatly enhance the ability to manage these exposures, share best practices and offer insight from working with similar customers and our partners within the sector.

The value of a brand and its industry reputation is an essential part of any business. Lack of management or mismanagement of brand following a major incident can severely damage customers directly through additional loss of revenue, customer or supplier confidence and ultimately the value and viability of a company. Typically, brand reputation issues arise following a major property loss or a product recall. Zurich’s crisis containment extension for property insurance provides automatic cover to help with managing reputational damage and costs. Our crisis containment experts, Hill+Knowlton, are a fully embedded part of our stand alone Product Recall offering.

As a result of increasingly complicated product safety challenges, manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers are more frequently turning to product recall insurance in order to protect their brand and balance sheet. Zurich’s product safety and recall insurance, provides a market leading combination of recall planning and preparation advice, along with post loss crisis consultancy to help minimise the impact of these risks.

How well do your customers know their supply chain? We understand how critical a supply chain is to a business in Food & Beverage, and how disruptive interruptions can be if a supplier cannot deliver. In Food & Beverage, the challenges of managing an increasingly complex network of suppliers can threaten business resilience. Our supply chain experts are available to assess the strength of your customer’s supply chain, provide advice on managing these risks and cover if the worst should happen.

The Food & Beverage industry is subject to onerous legislation, from labelling and packaging to food safety requirements. Keeping abreast of the changes can be a real risk for your customers and reflecting the legislation within all working practices and contracts can be a challenge. Zurich’s legal panel have real expertise in this area and can support your customers with understanding their responsibilities and ensuring they are protected.

There are a number of health and safety pressures in the Food & Beverage industry. These can range from the risks in preparing food, to the use of machinery and plant. This creates health and safety risks, which need to be carefully managed. Zurich are able to advise and offer insights covering a whole range of potential hazards, such as manual handling, night work and on-site accidents to managing the risks of storing materials.

Without an effective Business Continuity Plan, the majority of businesses fail following a major incident. The ability to sustain ‘business as usual’ following a crisis or incident is a key consideration in any risk management strategy. Zurich offers specific expertise in this area and can offer business resilience through highly focused products such as our Business Interruption cover, which has now been significantly extended and includes Disaster Recovery, alongside our fast and efficient claims service.

Many Food & Beverage companies rely on plant and machinery as a key part of their operational infrastructure. Whether it is the reliance on refrigeration units to store food stuffs or a piece of production equipment, the breakdown of either could have a detrimental effect on the business. Zurich can provide machinery breakdown insurance which covers machinery from unexpected damage. The cover is flexible and can insure all machinery on the premises or just specific items as required. Further to this, cover for the deterioration of stock is also available from Zurich.

The importance of green issues, legislation on environmental clean up and demands around carbon reduction and pollution are all increasing. Zurich now offers greater insight on these issues as part of a risk management strategy and the cost pressures on construction (or reconstruction after an incident) that omits the use of non-combustible materials.