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. Any small accident with food contamination or spoilage can quickly become costly to your business. Not to mention it can also ruin the reputation of your business. Learn how you can protect your catering business by including food contamination and spoilage coverage to your catering insurance policy.
What Does Food contamination and Spoilage Policy Cover?
A food contamination and spoilage policy is an added coverage to your insurance. The expenses covered under this policy are in cases where there are power outages or equipment fails. Additionally, if your business is forced to close your insurance will reimburse your business for income loss, cost of contaminated food replacement, sterilization of equipment, and medical expenses.
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 seems to be everywhere. The number of foodborne illnesses is 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 most prevalent types of foodborne illnesses:
- 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?” With the right insurance policy in place for your business you do not have to worry about this, they will take care of it for you.
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.
Reach Out To The Catering Insurance Experts
Contact the catering insurance specialists at Southern States Insurance for further information. We want your business to succeed. The last thing you want to worry about is the what-ifs in your insurance policy. Get peace of mind and make sure you are well protected. Contact us online or at (888) 971-5657 and we’ll set you up with a free quote and get you one step closer to peace of mind!