EU Commissioner on Cyber Attack on French Supermarkets: Food Weaponization Now a 'Reality'

'The weaponization of food has become a reality,' European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Christophe Hansen warned after French supermarket cyberattacks disrupted refrigeration systems at several stores, spoiling food and prompting reports of fires.

In a post on X on 12 October 2026, Hansen condemned the attack affecting Intermarché, Coopérative U and E.Leclerc and called for greater attention to food security. Reuters reported that temperatures in some supermarket refrigerators and freezers reached 50°C (122°F) overnight, leaving retailers to discard affected fresh and frozen products.

The Paris prosecutor's office said the attack affected connected supermarket refrigeration systems at several major food retailers across France. Its investigation is examining reported food losses and fires, according to Reuters. The precise circumstances of the reported fires have not been independently established.

An Updated Count of Affected Stores

Les Mousquetaires, which operates Intermarché and Netto, gave CNBC a narrower account of conditions at its own stores. The group said some overheated refrigeration equipment produced smoke but that it had received no reports of fires at its stores.

It also told CNBC that approximately 180 stores were affected and estimated that losses could reach several million euros. Some fresh and frozen food displays remained out of service after the incident affected a third-party provider responsible for managing refrigeration systems at certain stores. The group said it had removed and disposed of affected products to protect consumers.

The loss estimate remains preliminary. The company is awaiting assessments by a court-appointed bailiff and insurance experts before calculating the damage more precisely. Reuters had earlier reported that approximately 150 Les Mousquetaires stores were affected, with refrigeration temperatures reaching 50°C for six hours.

Carrefour reported that 80 supermarkets were affected, while Monoprix said the disruption affected 5% of its French store. Felix Aime, a senior cyber threat intelligence analyst at Sekoia Threat Detection and Research, noted that Spain, Portugal, Poland, Germany and Belgium had also been affected.

French authorities have tasked the National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) with investigating the incident. Reuters reported that the investigation was examining a vulnerability in refrigeration-management software supplied by Danish company Danfoss.

How 'Real' Is the Threat in the Food and Agriculture Industry?

The supermarket disruption comes amid an increase in reported ransomware incidents across the food and agriculture sector. The Food Institute reported on 13 October that incidents targeting food and beverage companies rose 62% in the first half of 2026, citing the Food and Agriculture Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Food and Ag-ISAC).

The underlying figures show 227 incidents in the first six months of 2026, compared with 140 during the same period in 2025. The figures cover the broader food and beverage sector, not supermarkets alone. They also do not establish that the French refrigeration incident was a ransomware attack.

Food and Ag-ISAC cautioned that many ransomware campaigns are opportunistic. Attackers scan for exposed systems or obtain access through intermediaries, then use phishing and other social-engineering techniques to compromise organisations. Although some businesses are deliberately targeted, the figures do not identify the perpetrators of the French supermarket incident.

Separate research cited by The Food Institute highlights the scale of ransomware activity across manufacturing. Zscaler's ThreatLabz 2026 Ransomware Report recorded 1,025 attacks against manufacturers between April 2025 and March 2026, compared with 605 against technology companies and 508 against healthcare organisations.

The report also found that the average ransom payment increased 5.3% year over year to $431,995 (about £326,000). Separately, the volume of data stolen by the 10 leading ransomware groups tracked by reported data-leak volume increased 275.8% year over year, reaching 896.2 terabytes. This measure concerns the volume of stolen data, not the number of attacks.

Jeff Olejnik, who leads cybersecurity services at Wipfli, told The Food Institute that food producers should separate production systems from corporate networks to reduce the risk of a compromised email account disrupting operations. He also recommended regularly testing backups and responding quickly to detected food security cyber threats.

Cliff Steinhauer, director of information security and engagement at the National Cybersecurity Alliance, said manufacturers should restrict access to connected machinery, limit remote access to what is necessary and monitor systems for suspicious activity.

Meanwhile, Zscaler executive Deepen Desai said ransomware groups were increasingly stealing sensitive information to pressure victims into paying and using generative artificial intelligence to accelerate their operations. Separately, Interpol security official Bjorn R. Watn told CNBC that artificial intelligence could help attackers target multiple victims simultaneously.