SuperValu pulls chilled and frozen food from sale in 13 stores after cyberattack

CHILLED AND FROZEN food has been removed from sale at 13 SuperValu stores after a cyber incident affected their refrigeration systems.

Musgrave, the group behind SuperValu, said the incident was limited to a specific model of refrigeration equipment.

“Our monitoring systems alerted us to the issue and we took immediate action,” a spokesperson said.

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

The company said customers could be confident that products still on sale had been stored at safe temperatures.

“Customer safety is our first priority,” the spokesperson said.

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“Our investigation is ongoing. We 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.”

The statement did not identify the 13 stores or give a timeframe for restoring their refrigeration systems.

The incident comes amid refrigeration problems at supermarkets elsewhere in Europe.

In Sweden, operators ICA and Coop said temperatures in fridges and freezers rose sharply overnight at a limited number of stores.

One affected store blamed a cyberattack, saying its refrigeration units had been set to 50C.

Last month, cyberattacks disrupted refrigeration systems at hundreds of supermarkets in France, forcing shops to discard chilled and frozen food.

It’s not yet known whether the incident affecting SuperValu was connected to those elsewhere in Europe.