Catering businesses have the unique risk of dealing with perishable products. Food contamination and spoilage are two factors that every caterer will deal with in their line of work. Find out how your catering insurance can include these coverages.

Food contamination and spoilage as a viable threat

It’s difficult to turn on the television or read the news without hearing of another outbreak of food contamination. Recalls for thousands of products such as peanut butter, produce and even dog food seem to be everywhere. The number of foodborne illnesses are the unfortunate product of bacteria such as E. coli and Salmonella. It is estimated that one out of every four Americans will suffer from some form of foodborne illness due to contamination, every year. Because of this staggering percentage thousands of claims and lawsuits are filed each year as well. Here are some of the most prevalent types of food borne illness:

• E. coli
• Campylobacteriosis
• Salmonellosis
• Shigellosis
• Botulism
• Norovirus Infection
• Hepatitis A

Often food spoilage may occur simply due to the malfunctioning of equipment. Power may be cut to your freezer or refrigerator systems, leaving the food inside left to slowly thaw out and potentially spoil. Due to food spoilage and contamination, catering businesses face possible catastrophic losses, which begs the question, “Who is going to pay for these losses?” Answer: your insurer can with the right catering insurance policies!

Why you need this coverage in your catering insurance

Perhaps a client consumed tainted food, got sick and now qualifies for monetary compensation or maybe you had to throw out your stock due to a broken refrigerator. Either way, the cost of replacing your produce and food and even your lost revenue can be covered with a contamination and spoilage endorsement. Unlike products liability for a company that manufactures nutracueticals, food spoilage coverage focuses on your own product going bad and not the effect that product has on someone else, like an allergic reaction. No catering insurance policy is complete without this niche coverage.

Under a commercial general liability policy, bodily injury and property damage are both covered. Bodily injury typically is defined as an injury, sickness or disease. Property damage refers to the physical injury to tangible property including all resulting loss of use of that property or the loss of use of tangible property that is not physically injured. Food spoilage and equipment malfunction would be covered under a property claim. For the specifics of your current policy you should contact your insurance provider, and ask if you qualify.

If you aren’t covered, be sure to contact us today, and we can help get the best catering insurance policy for you! We’ll set you up with a free quote and get you one step closer to peace of mind!