The food industry is crucial to the Belgian economy. It’s the largest industrial sector in our country and provides one-fifth of all jobs. The fact that this industry plays an important role in our prosperity is also clear from the volume of goods exported every year. Add to that the many suppliers that depend on this sector and its size and scope become obvious. As a broker we help you to analyse, reduce and properly manage your company’s risks in the food sector.
The different types of businesses operating in the food sector each have their own characteristics and activities – from the farmer taking care of the potato crop to the manufacturer packaging chips and the transport operator responsible for distribution to the supermarket. With so many different actors and activities, insurance needs within this industry are also very diverse.
By means of thorough risk assessment, we identify the key considerations for your company. Is it risk of fire or contamination? Climate change or transport? And what assets are crucial to your operations? Your personnel, your livestock, your fields, your machinery, or something else? Together with your broker, you can lay the basis for a sound insurance policy.
What sometimes makes the risk assessment even more complex are the risks that affect society. For example, major food crises such as dioxin, fipronil or salmonella, in which contaminated food has ended up on supermarket shelves and found its way directly to the consumer. If there is a potential impact on public health, an urgent recall usually follows, often at considerable financial cost.
In such a situation, you need support from experts through your insurance who will both steer this action effectively and assist with communication in order to limit the damage to your reputation.
The need for tailor-made insurance applies to every operator in the food sector, whether you’re a small family business in Flanders or a large international company with foreign subsidiaries.
Through the Lockton Global Partnership to which Vanbreda belongs, we are able to provide our services beyond the national borders. In this way, we can see to it that our insurance cover is consistent with local legislation everywhere.
The food sector is changing all the time. In order to stay competitive, especially at global level, the sector must be able to keep on growing. This brings with it both familiar and fresh challenges, including where insurance is concerned:
- The need for workers remains very high, especially at production companies, which is causing difficulties in view of the current labour market shortages.
- Due to the growing interest in health, significant investments are being made in product development. For example, a lot more research is taking place into healthier alternatives such as sugar-free products or meat substitutes.
- Cyber security is increasingly high on the agenda at food businesses. Many production companies are dependent on their IT system, and an outage or hacking can have serious consequences. Special attention is also being paid to giving employees phishing awareness training.
We encourage food businesses every day to take measures to prevent damage. For example, a team of in-house engineers will advise companies during the construction of a new production hall on choices of insulation material, compartmentalisation, sprinkler systems and so on. Carefully considered decisions in such areas ensure that risks are limited from the start and helps keep insurance premiums under control too.
