A single equipment failure in a cold storage facility — a malfunctioning compressor, a faulty sensor, a power interruption that goes undetected overnight — can spoil millions of dollars’ worth of perishable inventory. For food companies, that loss doesn’t just show up on a balance sheet. It disrupts supply chains, strains retailer relationships, and, depending…
Most people heading into a trip assume they’re covered. Their health insurance is active. Their credit card has some kind of travel benefit. Their homeowners policy covers personal belongings. In most cases, that assumption is wrong — or at least incomplete. Travel insurance exists specifically to fill the gaps those policies leave open. Here’s what…
The shipment cleared customs. It passed your supplier’s internal checks. It was in distribution before anyone flagged a problem. Then the FDA notification arrived. For food importers, a failed pesticide residue test or MRL violation isn’t just a regulatory headache. It’s a financial event that can affect multiple links in the supply chain simultaneously. The…
What Importers of Foreign Specialty Goods Need to Know About Supply Chain Liability, Contract Protections, and Risk Management Imagine this scenario: you’re an importer of premium Italian specialty food products. You’ve built strong relationships with artisan producers overseas, and your products are in high demand across specialty grocers and distributors nationwide. Then one day, you…
Your container of imported olive oil just arrived at the port. The paperwork hasn’t cleared yet. The trucker can’t pick it up. The clock is ticking — and so is a bill you weren’t expecting. Detention and demurrage fees are among the most frustrating and expensive surprises in food importing. They don’t show up in…
A container of standard wheat flour and a container of single-origin vanilla beans might both weigh 20,000 pounds, but from an insurance perspective, they have almost nothing in common. Specialty and high-value food products face unique risks during international shipment that commodity foods don’t encounter. Standard marine cargo insurance policies often leave expensive gaps when…
If you’re exporting specialty foods or craft beverages overseas but don’t have enough product to fill an entire shipping container, you’ve probably been told to use LCL (Less than Container Load) shipping to save money. What the freight forwarder might not mention is that LCL creates specific insurance risks that don’t exist with full container…
And Where Insurance Programs Feel It First Tariffs are back in the spotlight, and for food importers and exporters the impact is rarely confined to a single line item. When duty rates move quickly, the effect shows up across landed cost, working capital, customs compliance, and—often overlooked—how certain insurance programs respond when a loss occurs.…
When a contamination event or food recall occurs, most manufacturers focus immediately on the direct costs: pulling products from shelves, notifying retailers, and managing public relations. However, the hidden cost of operational interruption—the financial devastation that follows when production lines go dark—extends far beyond these visible expenses. The operational interruption period creates a cascade of…
In today’s food industry, understanding how General Liability Insurance and Product Recall Insurance work together is essential, but often misunderstood. While both coverages play distinct roles, each is critical to protecting food companies from significant financial and reputational risk. Since the introduction of the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) in 2011, food manufacturers, processors, and…
Coughlin Insurance Services, Inc.
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