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PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ACE Group today announced its collaboration with red24assist, a global specialist in risk assessment services, as it launched ACE Global Recall Protection for mid-market companies within the food and drink industry based in its Continental Europe region.

ACE Global Recall Protection provides a combination of pre-event risk management advice and crisis support in the event of an incident, together with insurance that offers protection from the impact of costly recall incidents. Covered events include accidental contamination, government recall, malicious product tampering and product extortion. The proposition is targeted at Continental European businesses with revenues of up to €1 billion seeking recall cover in conjunction with other ACE casualty insurance products.

Rosemary Ness, Casualty Manager, Continental and Central and Eastern Europe at ACE, said:

“The risk landscape for Europe’s food and drink industry is marked by increasingly complex global supply chains, evolving legislation, and a greater awareness of recall issues on the part of a wide range of stakeholders. At ACE, we believe that advance planning and robust scenario testing is the best defence and allows for fast action when the unexpected happens. Our collaboration with red24assist will help to ensure that our clients have access to advance risk management advice and the 24/7 expert crisis support they need, in their local language, in the event of a product contamination or malicious tampering incident.”

Key benefits of ACE Global Recall Protection include:

• Limits of up to €10 million for recall cover.
• Cover provided as part of a wider casualty programme at ACE, with limits of up to €100 million available for non-recall coverage.
• Pre-incident risk management advice from ACE’s own risk engineers and red24assist as part of the policy.
• 24/7 crisis support, 365 days a year, from red24assist’s experts during a recall incident involving food or drink contamination or malicious product tampering, available in 120 languages including all major European languages.
• Assistance in market share re-establishment after an incident through cover of rehabilitation costs, lost profits and related expenses.
• Access to a dedicated interactive website that keeps clients up to date with relevant news and insights.

Losses covered include:

• Recall costs (both first and third party depending on class)
• Redistribution costs
• Product rehabilitation and/ or restoration costs
• Destruction costs
• Extortion costs
• Business interruption costs (following a contamination incident) and extra expense
• Crisis consultancy costs

Products may not be available in all jurisdictions. The product information above is a summary only. The insurance policy issued contains the terms and limits of the contract.

ACE and red24assist’s Top Ten Recall Tips for Food and Drink Industry

The following precautionary tips are designed as guidelines to help European companies prevent or reduce the impact of a recall incident.

1. Develop a product recall plan

Put in place and keep up to date your recall plan. Planning helps clarify roles and responsibilities so that, in the event of an incident, you don’t waste valuable time working out what you need to do and who you need to talk to – you can just get on with it.

2. Maintain an active crisis manual

Develop and regularly test your crisis manual through crisis simulations, both desk top exercises and real life scenarios involving your management team. Practice might not make perfect, but evidence from our clients shows that it certainly helps improve preparedness – and confidence – to deal with an incident.

3. Maintain a HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) Plan

HACCP is a statutory requirement for food premises in the EU (and almost worldwide). HACCP is a food safety tool that identifies the risk, requires critical limits to be set and defines the critical control points which must be in place to omit or reduce to a safe level the incidence of microbial, chemical and physical contamination of food.

4. Training is key

Training in all relevant aspects is vital, e.g. food safety, HACCP, health and safety and environmental control. You should be able to show that you have a comprehensive training programme in place and you should ensure that new staff are included.

5. Obtain third party accreditation

Where possible, third party accreditation gives you and your stakeholders the confidence that your preparations meet industry best practice standards and can be a powerful component of your audit trail.

6. Keep an audit trail

Especially when third party approval is not readily available, you should be prepared to provide internal audit evidence that you have taken all the steps you could have been expected to in order to contain your incident.

7. Keep audited and approved food/non-food specifications

Specifications, once agreed and signed, can be considered a legal document and are often used in proceedings where dispute occurs. But specifications are often flawed by omitting parts or ingredients which result in withdrawal or recall of products. They are also often changed without permission of the purchasing clients and have resulted in an increase in recalls.

8. Build your specialist network

Expert advice from specialists is often critical when the unexpected happens. Using a network of microbiologists, food chemists, pharmaceutical specialists and other experts in their field, you can help ensure any crisis is handled more effectively. Document their details so that you know who to call on in the event of an incident.

9 Draft and approve your PR statements in advance

In the event of a recall, regulators may expect you to respond incredibly quickly. Don’t waste time by drafting your communications materials from scratch. Develop flexible templates that you can roll out fast, allowing you to focus on other critical areas of communication.

10 Finally, don’t panic!

When the unexpected happens, rely on your tried and tested recall and crisis plans, use your crisis response helpline, and remember to save samples of the products under recall.

About ACE:

The ACE Group is one of the world’s largest multiline property and casualty insurers. With operations in 53 countries, ACE provides commercial and personal property and casualty insurance, personal accident and supplemental health insurance, reinsurance and life insurance to a diverse group of clients. ACE Limited, the parent company of the ACE Group, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: ACE) and is a component of the S&P 500 index.

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