Special manufacturers cover

Delta underwriting agency is providing an exclusive cover for manufacturers which are facing major challenges in relation to recall of contaminated food and beverage products.

About 40 manufactured food products have been recalled so far this year, up from 25 for all of last year, Delta Insurance casualty manager Dinesh Murali said in a statement.

He said: "Our New Zealand climate and abundant natural resources make food manufacturing a good strategic choice. We have a particular strength in food manufacturing.”

There has also been growth across non-food manufacturing. Annual merchandise exports from New Zealand are almost NZ$49 billion (US$34 billion), according to Statistics NZ.

"Across all manufacturing segments we regularly outsource manufacturing processes and source components from overseas suppliers and this supports an efficient global supply chain. More competition means increased innovation and creating products in new and more efficient ways. But this also poses new challenges and risks in relation to quality control,” said Mr Murali.

Risks 
He said: "Outside the food sector, we are also seeing a major trend where manufacturers are embedding technology into items such as equipment and machinery with these products becoming connected to the "Internet of Things. This gives rise to risks such as cyber security which was not previously a concern for these items.

"Given the increased and evolving risks, Delta is providing manufacturing risk cover for Kiwi companies which we believe is the most comprehensive coverage solution in New Zealand.

"This cover under one umbrella targets both food and non-food manufacturers and insures a range of manufacturing-specific risks including coverage for product recall due to product defects and food contamination, cover for pollution arising from manufacturing process and crisis management cover. It can also be packaged with other coverages such as cyber liability.”