THE SCOOP American food producers never seem to sour when it comes to pursuing consumer market share. The United States is the world’s largest consumer and manufacturer in the market for high-fructose corn syrup. Recently, consumers, and therefore U.S. food…
Yearly Archives: 2012
Injuries Caused By Contaminated Beef Constitute A Single Occurrence
A food-borne illness outbreak usually results in a large number of claimants and, depending on the scope of distribution of the contaminated product, it can spawn claims in a multitude of jurisdictions. For insurance adjusters and their insureds, a critical question is…
Posted in Insurance Coverage
The Pros and Cons of Minimally Processed Food
On April 11, 2012, Jerry Scott and Jim Borgman managed (in their usual hilarious way) to put their finger on one of the dilemmas facing the food industry when they penned a Zits comic strip showing Pierce grabbing a live…
Posted in Raw Milk
Pink Slime: A Lesson in Crisis Management
The term “pink slime” continues to dominate news desks across the country. Public backlash against processors of “lean finely textured beef” has pushed one of the largest ground beef processors in the United States, AFA, into bankruptcy. Other companies such as Beef Products,…
Posted in Crisis Management, Pink Slime
Consumers’ Inability to Shape Up! Does Not Constitute Bodily Injury
THE SCOOP On January 30, 2012, a Texas federal judge ordered that Chubb Custom Insurance Company (“Chubb”) had no duty to defend its insured because the claimants in the underlying class action did not allege any “bodily injury” as defined by the…
The Pros and Cons of BPA
Despite an outcry by some consumer advocates, the FDA has declined to ban BPA (bisphenol A) in food containers. Interestingly, the FDA refused a ban because opponents didn’t provide enough data to support a rule change. Because the FDA said that…
Posted in BPA
Peanut Distributor Not Entitled to Coverage Under Accidental Contamination Policy
The ripple effects of a food recall up and down the supply chain continue to play out in courts across the U.S. Recalls are not simply a matter of an injured consumer making a claim against the manufacturer of a…
Posted in Contamination Policy, Insurance Coverage
Food Safety Act Loosens Standards for Government Seizures
THE SCOOP One of the most significant and talked about provisions of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) lies in section 206, “Mandatory recall authority,” which grants to the FDA for the first time the ability to mandate recalls. The…
Posted in Food Safety Modernization Act
Burritos Contaminated With Non-Dangerous Bacteria Not Covered By Contamination Policy
THE SCOOP This insurance coverage dispute arose out of a burrito product produced by Little Lady Foods that failed to make it to the market as expected. Prior to shipment to convenient stores, Little Lady had to test its burrito…
Posted in Contamination Policy, Insurance Coverage
Fresh Express’ Recall Policy Does Not Cover Spinach Recall Absent Actual Contamination
THE SCOOP The food industry will remember 2006 as the year of the North American E. coli outbreak caused by fresh-bagged spinach. The FDA issued the broadest advisory in its history regarding a commodity, advising consumers not to eat bagged…
Posted in Insurance Coverage
