Belgian media reported on Monday morning that temperatures in supermarket refrigerators had suddenly spiked, leading them to throw food away.
Supermarket chain Delhaize alerted its store managers early on Monday morning of problems with refrigerators, and Belgian broadcaster RTBF cited a store manager as saying that the problems were due to a cyberattack like those in France. Dutch media reported that Delhaize stores in Luxembourg are also affected.
A spokesperson for the company said it is aware of an “IT incident affecting the refrigeration systems in a number of Delhaize stores.”
A spokesperson for Colruyt, which operates Spar stores in Belgium, said in a statement that fridges in “around five” Spar stores have been affected. “We are currently doing everything we can to resolve the issue,” they said, adding that no Colruyt stores have been affected. Fifteen Belgian Carrefour stores are reportedly also affected.
A spokesperson for the Centre for Cybersecurity Belgium said the agency is “closely” following the incident.
Stores in Sweden have also been hit. A spokesperson for supermarket chain ICA confirmed an “incident overnight affecting a small number of ICA stores operating outside ICA’s central network” which affected its fridges and freezers. Swedish media also reported that Coop stores have been hit.
French supermarkets were hit with a wave of similar incidents mid October, when attackers hit refrigerators by Danfoss, a Danish manufacturer of store fridges. The attacks in France triggered a response from the country’s prime minister and its cybersecurity agency.
Danfoss did not immediately respond to a request for comment.