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PRODUCT LIABILITY SCENARIO

Manufacturer of Ice Cream Containers

To Learn More Visit:www.aig.com/us/productliability

Product Liability Service

Loss scenarioA manufacturer of plastic products was asked by a customer to design an inexpensive 2-litre food grade, lidded container. The container would be used for ice cream that supermarkets would sell to customers.

Samples were sent to the customer who liked the design and placed an order for a large number of tubs and lids. Unfortunately, the first ice cream orders shipped to customers drew a large number of complaints. It turned out that the physical dimensions of the products changed when subjected to low temperatures, making the lids pop off and exposing the ice cream to possible physical and bacterial contaminants.

Product Liability considerationsIt is important that customers ensure that their suppliers have sufficient knowledge of their products' intended application, including clearly defined performance characteristics in the order specification. Better communication in this scenario may have allowed the supplier to alter the designs it offered to fit the customer's expectations. An additional key consideration is whether or not the customer has robust quality assurance provisions to implement after supplies are received to ensure product performance meets the required characteristics.

How can the AIG Product Liability Service help?The AIG Product Liability Service can help to prevent these types of scenarios. It has a series of training programs on the subject of product safety risk assessments – what they are and how they are carried out. This is vital training for those involved in developing products and for buyers of products and components.

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