One of my favorite VIP pieces was one I wrote for Twitchy back before the 2024 election called "Nine Meals Away From Anarchy." That post dealt with Kamala Harris' campaign plan to fight price gouging in groceries — a move that would lead to bare shelves, rationing, and chaos. Such a policy was tried (and failed) during the Nixon administration but the message remains the same: we are nine meals away from anarchy. Journalist Alfred Henry Lewis made this observation in 1906 and it's still relevant 120 years later.
Which is why I'm paying attention to the cyber attacks on European refrigeration systems. It first started in France, where hackers took control of internet-connected refrigeration systems at French stores and jacked up the temperature to spoil millions of dollars worth of food.
It happened again, this time in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Sweden.
JUST IN: Fridges and freezers at some supermarkets in Belgium, Luxembourg and Sweden were hacked overnight.
— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) November 2, 2026
Hackers changed the temperature settings to as high as 70°C (158°F), causing food to spoil.
The damage is expected to run into the millions. pic.twitter.com/Nj5OZ5AEeS
And in Ireland, Estonia, and Finland.
UPDATE: Some stores in Ireland, Estonia and the Netherlands are also affected by the hack https://t.co/nIz2PWnFtn
— BNO News Live (@BNODesk) November 2, 2026
Supermarket chains in at least seven European countries have said the temperatures of refrigerators and freezers in some of their shops soared overnight to as high as 50C (122F), echoing a cyber-attack last month that caused millions of euros of damage in France.
Retailers in Belgium, Estonia, Ireland, Finland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden reported problems with their refrigeration systems on Monday, and several companies confirmed they had been hacked.
The EU food and agriculture commissioner, Christophe Hansen, said the repeated cyber-attacks were deeply concerning, calling them “a deliberate attempt to disrupt our food supply chain and undermine consumers’ confidence in it”.
The incidents follow an attack in France last month in which hackers seized control of cooling units in as many as 700 supermarkets, raising their temperatures as high as 50C (122F) and causing fires and food losses estimated in the tens of millions of euros.
I have no idea what the motives behind these attacks are, although my gut tells me it's a form of terrorism meant to destabilize Europe even more than it already is. If they're rioting in France over school supplies (they're not), imagine what happens when they don't have adequate food supplies. That'll make the widespread unrest happening now look like a picnic.
The solution seems simple enough: unplug from the Internet. But the motives behind the attacks, and the solutions to stop that, on the other hand, are not. But governments in Europe and America have a vested interest in making sure it does before things get even worse.
It's also a lesson for consumers in an increasingly connected world: putting your stove, grill, or fridge on the Internet gives bad actors (and the government) the ability to brick your appliances for any reason, at any time. Perhaps we need to rethink that, too.
