Cyberattacks affected refrigeration systems in several European countries, including Ireland, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Estonia and Finland, forcing some retailers to discard affected food products.

BRUSSELS, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) -- A cyber incident affected refrigeration systems at 13 stores operated by Irish supermarket chain SuperValu on Monday, as similar disruptions were reported across several European countries, raising concerns over the cybersecurity of food retail infrastructure.

Irish food wholesaler Musgrave Group, which owns SuperValu, said the incident was limited to a specific model of refrigeration equipment, forcing affected stores to remove chilled and frozen food products from sale as a precautionary measure.

"Our monitoring systems alerted us to the issue and we took immediate action," a company spokesperson said, adding that other products remained available as normal.

The company said it was working with equipment suppliers and cybersecurity specialists to investigate the incident and restore normal operations.

Similar incidents were also reported Monday in several other European countries, including Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Sweden, Estonia and Finland, with some retailers forced to discard affected food products.

In Belgium, at least 76 supermarkets and other retail outlets had reported problems with their refrigeration systems as of Monday afternoon, according to a Belgian media tally.

Belgian retailer Colruyt Group and Delhaize, which also has branches in Luxembourg, reported IT incidents affecting refrigeration systems at dozens of stores.

Belgium's federal prosecutor's office has opened a criminal investigation into the cyberattack.

In Sweden, grocery retailer Axfood said the freezer systems at a distribution center handling home deliveries of groceries had been hacked.

Other Swedish supermarket chains, including ICA and Coop, also reported refrigeration problems overnight. Coop said six of its stores were affected, while ICA confirmed disruptions at a limited number of locations.

One ICA store reported that its refrigeration and freezer temperatures had been set to 50 degrees Celsius following a suspected cyberattack.

In the Netherlands, the cyberattack overnight has affected the refrigeration and freezing systems of at least 17 businesses. Local media said the affected systems were mainly used by butcher shops and small neighborhood stores; no major supermarket chains in the country were affected.

The Dutch government has warned that cyberattacks pose risks to the food industry, which increasingly relies on digital systems for food production, processing, refrigeration, packaging and logistics. Most businesses had followed the advice to disconnect systems from the internet and reconnect only through secure networks, but a small number had not.

In response to the latest attacks, the Dutch National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) on Monday urged businesses operating refrigeration systems to contact their equipment suppliers to check the security of their installations. It recommended immediately updating vulnerable systems or taking additional security measures, including preventing direct access to refrigeration systems from the internet, restricting remote access to trusted IP addresses, using strong passwords, and regularly installing security updates.

Stephan Moelans, CEO of Belgian refrigeration company Sabcobel, said the attack used the same method as the major cyberattack in France in October.

During that cyberattack in France, hackers gained control of refrigeration systems at hundreds of supermarkets, causing temperatures to rise sharply and resulting in substantial food losses and, in some cases, fires, according to French police.