Supermarkets Across Seven European Countries Dump Food After Cyber-Attack on Refrigeration Systems
Supermarkets in Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Estonia and Finland have discarded large quantities of food after refrigerators and freezers were hit in a cyber-attack, with one Belgian Delhaize branch estimating losses above €100,000.
BBC World
A cyber-attack targeting refrigeration systems has forced supermarkets across seven European countries to throw away large volumes of perishable food, with Belgium and Luxembourg among the worst affected.
Forty Delhaize supermarkets in Belgium and Luxembourg were hit, according to the source material, while incidents were also reported at stores in Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands, Estonia and Finland.
At a Delhaize branch in Hoeilaart, just outside the Belgian capital of Brussels, the BBC's Europe correspondent Nick Beake reported seeing frozen pizzas and ice cream among a mountain of food that had to be scrapped. The branch estimated the cost of the damage at more than €100,000, equivalent to roughly £83,500.
The scale of the waste at individual stores illustrates the practical impact of the attack, which disrupted the refrigeration and freezing equipment retailers rely on to keep chilled and frozen products safe for sale.
The affected countries span both Western and Northern Europe, indicating that the incident was not confined to a single national retail network. Delhaize operates stores in both Belgium and Luxembourg, where the concentration of damage was highest.
Details about the method of the attack and who was responsible have not been provided in the reported material. It is also not yet clear whether other retail chains beyond Delhaize were affected in the countries where incidents were reported.
The discarded stock included frozen items such as pizzas and ice cream, products that become unsafe or unsellable once the cold chain is broken. Retailers typically cannot return thawed frozen goods to freezers for resale because of food safety rules.
The episode highlights the vulnerability of commercial refrigeration infrastructure to digital attacks, as supermarkets depend on continuous cooling to preserve food supplies and avoid substantial financial losses.
Further information on the full extent of the losses across the affected countries has not yet been made available.