Supermarket Freezers Were Set to 50 Degrees Celsius in Four European Countries

The Associated Press reported that freezers and refrigerators stopped keeping food cold at supermarkets in Sweden, Belgium, Luxembourg and Estonia on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. Some stores threw out spoiled food, and the chains involved attributed the failures to cyberattacks.

The failures follow a case in October 2026 in which attackers remotely took control of refrigeration systems at hundreds of supermarkets and independent stores across France. Belgium's Centre for Cybersecurity has said it is not known who orchestrated the attacks, and no authority has attributed them.

In Sweden, ICA Group spokesperson Gustaf Nilsson told the news agency TT that "a limited number" of its stores were affected overnight, and declined to give a figure. The chain's ICA Kvantum branch in Sjöbo, in southern Sweden, wrote on its Facebook page that its fridges and freezers had been hacked and set to 50 degrees Celsius. TT reported that the Coop chain found problems with refrigeration at six of its stores in central Sweden.

The Delhaize chain said an "IT incident" affected refrigeration systems at several dozen of its stores, most of them in Belgium and a few in Luxembourg. "In the affected stores, the range of fresh and frozen products is temporarily somewhat limited," spokesperson Sarah De Meester said. Carrefour in Belgium said a "cyberattack targeting refrigeration installations only had an extremely limited impact," affecting 15 of its more than 700 stores.

In Estonia, Kitman Coldtech, which makes the technology involved, said one of its clients was attacked, public broadcaster ERR reported. A computer controlling refrigeration was reached and the temperature turned up to 50 degrees Celsius, the company said. Chief executive Jann Mutso declined to say which store, and said the attack was answered within minutes with no significant damage. The Selver chain said one of its outlets was affected.