Coca-Cola says Fairlife’s U.S. production remains temporarily suspended after a ransomware attack.
Why it matters: The attack is disrupting a major consumer goods supply chain, not just corporate IT. If the outage lasts, it could affect product availability and raise fresh questions about ransomware risk in food manufacturing.
- Coca-Cola said Fairlife detected unauthorized access to some systems, including production-related systems, in connection with a ransomware attack.
- Fairlife’s U.S. production is still temporarily suspended while Coca-Cola investigates and restores affected systems.
- Coca-Cola said its Canada operations were not impacted and product quality and safety have not been affected.
- The company said it activated incident response and business continuity protocols, brought in outside cybersecurity advisors and notified law enforcement.
Coca-Cola disclosed the incident in an SEC filing and said the full scope, nature and impacts are not yet known. The company said Fairlife detected unauthorized access to some of its systems, including production-related systems, in connection with a ransomware attack. SEC filing
The company said Fairlife’s U.S. production operations are “temporarily suspended” as it works to investigate and restore affected systems. Coca-Cola also said it activated incident response and business continuity protocols, engaged outside cybersecurity advisors and notified law enforcement. BleepingComputer report
Coca-Cola said its operations in Canada were not impacted. It also said product quality and safety have not been impacted. AJC report
Fairlife, acquired by Coca-Cola in 2020, sells milk and protein shakes in the U.S. The brand surpassed $1 billion in annual retail sales in 2022, and Coca-Cola previously announced a $650 million investment to expand Fairlife production in Michigan. AJC report
Coca-Cola has not identified the ransomware group, said it has not determined whether the incident is reasonably likely to materially affect the company and has not disclosed whether any data was stolen. The outage is an active operational disruption, with no public timeline yet for when U.S. production will resume. TechCrunch report
By the numbers
- 2020 - Coca-Cola acquired Fairlife.
- $1 billion - Fairlife surpassed that in annual retail sales in 2022.
- $650 million - Coca-Cola previously announced investment to expand Fairlife production in Michigan.
Yes, but: Coca-Cola has not said whether data was stolen, which ransomware group was behind the attack or how long the suspension will last.
What's next: Coca-Cola is still investigating, restoring affected systems and monitoring the incident for any material impact.