Chilled and frozen food removed from more than a dozen SuperValu stores after 'cyber incident'

All refrigerated and frozen produce in 13 SuperValu stores have been removed from sale after what is believed to be a cyber-attack.

Musgrave, who own the SuperValu brand, confirmed that "a cyber incident has affected refrigeration systems in 13 SuperValu stores”.

A spokesperson said that the incident is limited to a specific model of refrigeration, and that their monitoring systems alerted them to the issue and they “took immediate action”.

At least one store in Munster is understood to be affected.

“As a precaution, chilled and frozen products in the affected stores have been removed from sale, and all other products remain available as normal.

“Customer safety is our first priority, and customers can be confident that products on sale in our stores have been stored at safe temperatures.” 

The spokesperson added that their investigation is ongoing, and they are working closely with the suppliers of the affected refrigeration equipment and with cybersecurity specialists to resolve the issue and restore normal operations as quickly as possible.

It comes as earlier this month, hundreds of French supermarkets were hit by a cyber-attack that caused their fridges and freezers to heat up, some to 50C, overnight, spoiling food estimated to be worth millions of euro.

Retailers across Europe also affected 

Sweden’s Coop chain said six of ​its stores ‌had been ​affected, while ICA said it was “aware that a limited ​number of stores were affected by an incident overnight which impacted their refrigeration and freezer systems”.

The Dutch retailer Ahold Delhaize, which last ​month ​reported a ​cybersecurity ‌incident ​to police in the Netherlands, said an “IT incident” ​had hit fridges and ⁠freezers in dozens of its ⁠supermarkets in ​Belgium ‌and ‌Luxembourg.

Belgium’s Le Soir newspaper reported that dozens of stores and supermarkets were affected, including five Spar outlets, multiple Shop & Go convenience stores attached to Q8 service stations, and a number of smaller Proxy Delhaize minimarkets.

It comes as earlier this month, hundreds of French supermarkets were hit by a cyber-attack that caused their fridges and freezers to heat up, some to 50C, overnight, spoiling food estimated to be worth millions of euro.

French ⁠police said in October that hackers had seized control of cooling units at ⁠up to 700 supermarkets in a large-scale attack that led to heavy losses of chilled and frozen foods and underlined the vulnerability of internet-connected systems.

Hackers had remotely overridden the settings on thousands of freezers, fridges and chiller cabinets, pushing them from as low as -27C to well over 50C.

The Intermarché, Coopérative U, Carrefour, Leclerc and Monoprix chains were among those affected.

Cormac Quish, who owns Supervalu in Ballincollig, Cork, said the incident did not affect them.

Although Musgraves centrally owns some SuperValu branches, most stores operating under the SuperValu name are independently owned.

Mr Quish explained that they monitor fridge temperatures within the store, but that different stores use different systems.

Despite not being affected by this cyber-attack, the news was worrying, he said. “In our stores it’s not a problem, but it is a concern.”

- additional reporting from The Guardian