Some information technology (IT) systems at Canadian pork and poultry packer Maple Leaf Foods have been downed in what the company described Monday as a “cybersecurity incident.”
The company said in a release Monday that it “took immediate action and engaged cybersecurity and recovery experts” when it learned of the problem, and its in-house and third-party experts are investigating.
A company representative said separately via email Monday that the incident has caused “operational and service disruptions that vary by business unit, plant and site” but didn’t specify which facilities were or are affected or how.
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Mississauga-based Maple Leaf’s operations in Canada include hog slaughter plants at Brandon, Man. and Lethbridge, Alta.; five fresh poultry plants in Ontario and one at Edmonton; hatcheries in Ontario and Alberta; five feed mills in Manitoba; and pork and poultry further-processing sites in five provinces. The company in late September also announced it had completed construction work on a major new poultry plant at London, Ont.
“Our farms have adjusted their practices due to the system outage, and we feel confident in our ability to care for our animals and meet their needs,” Maple Leaf said via email.
Asked Monday about the nature of the incident — a ransomware attack or computer virus, for example — Maple Leaf wouldn’t specify, but said via email it’s “deploying our business continuity plan and implementing workarounds to mitigate the impact on our operations and business.”
Meanwhile, it said it “expect(s) some disruption in our operations and service levels” as it works on “restoring business continuity.”
In its release, it said it “will continue to work with all its customers and suppliers to minimize these disruptions.”
Maple Leaf’s systems outage isn’t the first cybersecurity breach to affect Canada’s meat packing sector. Canadian operations of Brazilian meat packer JBS briefly halted last summer when that company’s U.S. arm was hit by what was later confirmed to be a ransomware attack.
Elsewhere in Canada, major grocery firm Empire Co., whose retail chains include Sobeys, Safeway, IGA and FreshCo among others, also announced Monday its operations have been affected by an unspecified “IT systems issue.”
Empire said in a release its grocery stores remain open as usual and aren’t yet seeing “significant disruptions,” except that some in-store services are “functioning intermittently or with a delay” and some in-store pharmacies are “experiencing technical difficulties in fulfilling prescriptions.” — Glacier FarmMedia Network
