Refrigerators and freezers at dozens of supermarkets across six European countries stopped keeping food cold overnight on Sunday 1 November into Monday 2 November 2026, in what retailers and a refrigeration specialist believe was a coordinated cyberattack on the systems that control them. Stores in Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands and Estonia were affected, and large quantities of chilled and frozen food had to be thrown away. The incident comes weeks after a similar attack hit hundreds of supermarkets in France, and investigators have not yet said who was behind either wave.
The heaviest impact so far appears to be in Belgium and Luxembourg, where around 40 Delhaize supermarkets reported problems. Ahold Delhaize, the chain’s parent company, said an IT incident overnight had hit fridges and freezers in dozens of its stores. Belgian refrigeration company Sabcobel, which operates Delhaize’s systems, said the affected units had their evaporators switched into defrost mode, causing them to warm up.
Supermarket Freezers Across Six European Countries: What Was Reported Where
| Country | What was reported on 2 November 2026 | Source of the report |
|---|---|---|
| Belgium and Luxembourg | Around 40 Delhaize stores; 15 Carrefour Belgium stores; five Spar shops under the Colruyt franchise system | Ahold Delhaize; Colruyt Group; RTL reporting |
| Sweden | ICA stores hit, including a Stockholm store attacked at 2 a.m. and a Sjöbo store set to 50°C; six Coop stores; an Axfood distribution centre near Gothenburg | ICA; Coop; Swedish national cybersecurity centre |
| Ireland | 13 of SuperValu’s 223 stores, limited to one specific model of refrigeration system; chilled and frozen products removed from sale | Musgrave Group |
| Netherlands | Freezing and cooling systems of at least 17 companies attacked, including butcher shops and small local stores | Danfoss, via Dutch public radio |
| Estonia | At least one supermarket chain affected, with temperatures set to 50°C | Kitman Coldtech, via public broadcaster ERR |
| United Kingdom | No incidents reported; the National Cyber Security Centre said it was working with international partners and industry to understand the incident | UK National Cyber Security Centre |
Sabcobel chief executive Stephan Moelans told the Belga news agency that the incident was a cyberattack and that his teams had spent the night and the morning disconnecting affected units from the network. At one Delhaize branch in Hoeilaart, in Flanders, the store told news website Het Laatste Nieuws it had lost €100,000 (£83,500) worth of produce. That figure is for a single store, not a Europe-wide total, which has not been published.
In Sweden, the head of the national cybersecurity centre, John Billow, told Reuters the centre was working on several incidents affecting grocery store refrigeration systems. One ICA store in Stockholm said on social media that the temperature of its refrigerators and freezers had been hacked overnight and set to 50 degrees Celsius. A reported setting of 50°C does not by itself prove that every affected cabinet physically reached that temperature.
How Fridge Controllers Became a Target for Attackers
Modern supermarket refrigeration is run by internet-connected controllers that let engineers monitor and adjust temperatures remotely, and that remote access is exactly what the attackers appear to have exploited. In the French wave in early October, hackers seized control of cooling units at hundreds of supermarkets, remotely overriding settings on thousands of freezers, fridges and chiller cabinets. France’s cybersecurity agency, CERT-FR, traced the weakness to internet-connected remote controllers, including Danfoss AK-SM and AK-SC units and Copeland and Dixell XWEB devices.
It has not been confirmed that the Belgian, Swedish and other stores hit on 2 November use the same equipment, and the method described by Sabcobel closely matches the French attack without proving the same actor was involved. Ahold Delhaize had already reported a cybersecurity incident to Dutch police last month after detecting suspicious activity in its infrastructure. The pattern is why cybersecurity agencies in Belgium and Sweden said on Monday that they were monitoring the latest incidents.
Why a Warmer Freezer Is a Food Safety Problem, Not Just a Broken Appliance
Chilled and frozen food that warms beyond its safe temperature range cannot simply be re-frozen and sold, which is why affected stores removed products from sale and threw stock away. Retailers said the impact was limited to a small subset of their networks — Carrefour Belgium, for example, put its affected stores at 15 out of more than 700. The losses are still large in absolute terms, with local media reporting millions of euros worth of food discarded across the affected countries.
The incident also shows how a system once largely mechanical has become part of critical infrastructure, in the same way that emergency alert apps were hit by apparent cyberattacks in Russia and Ukraine on the same weekend. In both cases, the immediate damage was disruption and lost trust rather than a confirmed casualty count, and no casualty or panic figures have been reported for the freezer incidents. Shoppers in affected areas may still see gaps in fresh and frozen aisles while stores restock and check their systems.
What Investigators Have Ruled Out, and What Remains Unknown
No group has claimed responsibility for Monday’s incidents, and no group claimed the French attack either, according to Reuters. Reuters also said it was unable to establish who was behind Monday’s attacks, or whether there was any link to the October ones in France. Moscow has repeatedly denied involvement in sabotage or hybrid warfare operations, and no authority has publicly attributed the freezer attacks to any state or group.
One outlet has described a seventh affected country, Finland, but that claim is not confirmed by the BBC, Reuters or Al Jazeera reporting used here, so this article counts six countries and treats any wider spread as not publicly verified. The fix is also not simple: Sabcobel’s chief executive has said affected units need physical modifications, not just software updates, and that most customers moved to a secure internet connection after the French attack. Until investigators establish the entry point in each country, retailers cannot say the same weakness will not be used again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which countries were affected by the supermarket freezer cyberattack? Belgium, Luxembourg, Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands and Estonia, according to BBC reporting on 2 November 2026. No incidents have been reported in the United Kingdom.
How hot did the freezers get? Some stores reported settings or temperatures of 50°C (122°F), including an ICA store in Sjöbo, Sweden, and an Estonian chain. A reported setting does not prove every cabinet reached that temperature.
Was food thrown away? Yes. Affected stores removed chilled and frozen products from sale, and one Delhaize branch in Hoeilaart reported losing €100,000 worth of produce. A Europe-wide total has not been published.
Is this linked to the French supermarket attacks in October? Not publicly verified. The method described in Belgium closely matches the French wave, but Reuters said it could not establish any link between the two waves or identify who was behind either.
Who carried out the attack? Not publicly verified. No group has claimed responsibility, and no authority has publicly attributed the incidents to any person, group or state.
Myth-busting: A freezer that warms up is not the same as a freezer that breaks down on its own. In these incidents, retailers and their refrigeration contractor described settings being changed remotely, which is why cybersecurity agencies, rather than only repair engineers, are involved.
