Refrigeration disruptions hit European supermarkets

A wave of refrigeration disruptions hit supermarkets and food retailers in several European countries on November 2, leaving some stores to discard chilled and frozen products. The cause of many reported outages remains under investigation, and authorities have not identified those responsible or established whether the incidents were linked to an earlier attack in France. In Ireland, wholesaler Musgrave said refrigeration systems at 13 SuperValu stores were affected, prompting the removal of chilled and frozen goods from sale. Swedish grocer Coop reported disruptions at seven stores in an account to Reuters; in another account, it confirmed six affected stores among around 800. Coop said the problem had been resolved and its refrigeration was working normally. Retailers in Belgium and Luxembourg also reported problems. Colruyt Group said five shops had their refrigeration systems attacked, while Carrefour Belgium reported disruption at about 15 of its 700 stores. IKEA said one Belgian outlet was affected. In Sweden, ICA acknowledged refrigeration problems at a limited number of stores but did not confirm that a cyberattack caused them. Reports also described disruptions in...