Dairy producer Fairlife halts US production due to cyber incident

Fairlife, a dairy producer fully owned by The Coca-Cola Company, has temporarily suspended its U.S. production following a cyber incident detected on Thursday. The company confirmed that the intrusion has not affected product quality or safety, and its Canadian operations remain unaffected.

The incident has prompted an internal investigation, and law enforcement authorities have been notified. While Fairlife has not publicly identified the specific ransomware group responsible for the attack, it has also not confirmed any breach of corporate or consumer data.

Fairlife's U.S. production facilities are located in Michigan, New York, and Arizona. The company, which began nationwide distribution of its brand in 2015 and surpassed $1 billion in annual retail sales in 2022, has been fully owned by Coca-Cola since 2020.

The food and beverage sector has seen a number of cyberattacks recently. In late June, Japanese brewer Sapporo reported unauthorized access to the networks of two of its subsidiaries. Earlier this week, a cyberattack on Japan's largest refrigerated logistics company caused disruptions for Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurants. Russian dairy companies have also experienced recent cyber intrusions. Last year, grocery distributor United Natural Foods reported a cyberattack in the summer, and South Africa’s largest chicken producer also experienced operational disruptions due to a cyber incident.