Supermarket Fridge Hack Causes Food Waste and Worries Shoppers

A cyberattack hit the refrigeration systems of supermarkets in several European countries. The attack shows how digital problems can affect the food we buy and the confidence we have in stores.

Supermarkets in Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Sweden reported refrigeration problems that forced some retailers to discard food after temperatures rose overnight. The rise in temperature made many frozen products unsafe to sell.

Giuseppe Spadaro, head of the Radenza Group, said the attack targeted the remote‑control system for frozen food sections, causing the temperature to rise. Carlos Cancino, a Coop spokesman, added that the affected stores used a 4G mobile network instead of the newer 5G system, which made them more exposed to hackers.

EU food and agriculture commissioner Christophe Hansen said the incidents were a deliberate attempt to disrupt the food supply chain and undermine consumers' confidence. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, and federal prosecutors opened an investigation in Belgium. Governments are holding cybersecurity meetings, and a similar attack disrupted French grocery stores three weeks earlier, showing a pattern of targeting refrigeration systems.

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