C'Mon Man! Munchies & Product Recall...

You guessed it. Marijuana. Aka…pot, weed, dope, bud, grass, mary jane, bong….you get the picture. Finally, 25 years removed from the college scene, my grown up career comes face to face with, ummm, stuff I heard about in college.

Like me, I’m sure you’ve heard the stories of how smoking dope gives you the munchies, but the connection to product recall? You must think I’m smoking something! But alas, I am not (jeez, it’s not even 5:00 yet!). However, I just could not resist the news that in 2015, at least 2 marijuana recalls have been conducted in Colorado, one of four states where recreational use of marijuana is legal. The news states that the recall was due to the use of unapproved pesticides in the production of the plant, but my theory is that rather than having the desired effect of creating a craving for White Castle, people were rushing to their local farmer’s market for a bunch of asparagus! As you can imagine, the outrage from the users was rather subdued, and other than the after-effects of the asparagus that we all know and love, no one could remember anything or was harmed in any way. C’Mon Man!

Now I bring this up for one serious business reason….the importance of Product Recall coverage (and it’s “cousin”, Manufacturer’s E&O) to companies in the manufacturing or distribution business. In case you had any hopes of finding coverage for this in a Commercial General Liability policy, you will be sadly disappointed. So if you are at all concerned about the need to recall your product and the costs involved to do that, or to reimburse your customer for their financial loss due to a recall of your product, talk to your insurance and risk management advisor!