London-based distributor Neal’s Yard Dairy introduced on Instagram that it was “the sufferer of a complicated fraud” involving high-value cheddar cheese. They’re working with legislation enforcement to trace down the wrongdoer, and asking fellow cheesemongers to report any suspicious offers on clothbound cheddars with the tags indifferent.
Neal’s Yard Dairy/Instagram
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Neal’s Yard Dairy/Instagram
The British artisanal cheese neighborhood is reeling from what it’s calling the good — or grate — cheese heist of 2024 after imposters stole tens of 1000’s of kilos of high-value cheddar from a serious distributor.
London-based retailer and cheesemaker Neal’s Yard Dairy introduced final week that it had been the “sufferer of a complicated fraud ensuing within the lack of over £300,000 price of clothbound Cheddar” — the equal of greater than $389,000.
“The theft concerned a fraudulent purchaser posing as a legit wholesale distributor for a serious French retailer, with the cheese delivered earlier than the invention of the fraudulent id,” the corporate stated.
The thieves made off with 950 wheels — over 22 metric tons, or roughly 48,500 kilos — of Hafod, Westcombe and Pitchfork cheddar, it added. The wheels got here from three completely different artisan suppliers throughout England and Wales.
“Between them, these cheeses have gained quite a few awards and are amongst essentially the most sought-after artisan cheeses within the U.Okay.,” Neal’s Yard Dairy stated. “The excessive financial worth of those cheeses seemingly made them a specific goal for the thieves.”
The crime cuts deep: Cheddar, which originated in a village by the identical title in Somerset, England, is the best-selling cheese within the U.Okay. and an enormous supply of nationwide delight.
British superstar chef Jamie Oliver defined in an Instagram video that there’s “solely a small handful of actual cheddar cheese makers on the earth,” and that’s the place the stolen cheese got here from. He referred to as it a “actual disgrace.”
“This may sluggish Neal’s Yard having the ability to help all of their cheesemakers over the subsequent 5 years, I might think about,” Oliver stated.
Neal’s Yard Dairy is shouldering the price of the crime, having already paid the artisan cheesemakers in full. The corporate says it’s now taking steps to make sure its personal monetary stability and the “continued improvement of the British artisan cheese sector.”
It is usually working with native legislation enforcement and worldwide authorities to attempt to observe down the culprits.
“Whereas the cheese might by no means be recovered, our precedence is to share overtly what has occurred and to stop it from occurring to different companies,” it says.
However some locally are hoping it’s not too late to seek out among the cheese — if vigilante cheddar-heads are prepared to look.
How cheese lovers may help
The id of the cheese thieves remains to be unknown.
Tom Calver with the cheesemaker Westcombe says they had been led to consider they had been sending their merchandise to France through Neal’s Yard Dairy.
“These guys … principally impersonated a wholesaler-slash-customer, fairly a big retailer over in France,” he stated in an Instagram video, displaying a row of empty cabinets and noting he had posted excitedly concerning the 10-ton order simply weeks earlier. “It was a hoax, it was theft, it was fraud. I imply, it’s nuts.”
Patrick Holden, whose Hafod Welsh cheddar was taken, advised the BBC that the robbers requested Neal’s Yard to dispatch the cheese to a London warehouse, then collected it and disappeared. He believes they could be making an attempt to promote it within the Center East or Russia, “as a result of folks gained’t ask questions there.”
“I feel in the event that they tried to promote it nearer to dwelling they’d discover it troublesome,” he stated, naming North America and Australia as examples. “As a result of the worldwide artisan neighborhood may be very linked.”
The cheesemakers have all issued statements thanking Neal’s Yard Dairy for honoring the sale and praising the corporate’s response for example of the belief and integrity that exists within the small trade.
To that finish, Neal’s Yard Dairy is asking its “esteemed neighborhood of cheesemongers all over the world” to maintain an eye fixed out for the cheese and speak to them if they’re supplied or obtain any suspicious offers — particularly clothbound cheddars of sure weights (10 kg and 24 kg) with the tags indifferent.
Calver amplified that request in his Instagram video.
“Should you do see or know of anyone over in Europe or all over the world that there is some clothbound uncooked milk cheddar that is going low-cost, then simply are you able to tell us?” he stated. “As a result of we will doubtlessly hint it again — hopefully, possibly, I don’t know — and we will hopefully work with the police to attempt to discover out who the culprits are and indirectly assist Neal’s Yard on this quest of discovering the cheese.”
Oliver advised his greater than 10 million Instagram followers that “if anybody hears something about posh cheese going for affordable, it’s most likely some incorrect ’uns.”
“Bear in mind, if the deal appears too gouda to be true, it most likely is!” he wrote within the caption.
Oliver additionally questioned aloud what the thieves might probably be planning on doing with their high-profile loot.
“Are they gonna, like, unpeel the material after which reduce the skins off and grate it and eliminate it within the quick meals trade, within the industrial trade?” he requested.
In a social media replace posted on Sunday, Neal’s Yard Dairy stated it has acquired an “overwhelming quantity” of calls, messages and visits from supporters since saying the theft.
And it supplied a solution to the numerous on a regular basis cheese lovers who’ve been asking how they may help.
“Proceed to help British and Irish cheese,” it wrote. “Hafod, Pitchfork and Westcombe are particular examples of farmhouse Cheddar. Eat them. Have a good time them.”
