‘Grate Cheese Heist’: Thieves Just Stole $390,000 Worth of Prize-Winning Cheddar in England
A recent cheese heist has Scotland Yard on the case.
The fromage in question was no ordinary supermarket variety. The owners of Neal’s Yard Dairy, a distributor and wholesaler of fine British cheeses, were scammed out of nearly 1,000 wheels of award-winning, cloth-wrapped artisanal cheddar. The 48,488 pounds of aged dairy have a staggering combined value of $390,000.
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“The high monetary value of these cheeses likely made them a particular target for the thieves,” the company told the Associated Press.
Though no suspects have yet been identified or captured, what is known about the robbery reads like a screwball television plot. Someone posing as a wholesale distributor for an important French retailer approached Neal’s Yard Dairy about purchasing the cheese and vanished with the handcrafted goods before the company noticed it was gone.
The stolen wheels were made by three distinguished producers: Hafod Welsh organic cheddar, Westcombe cheddar, and Pitchfork cheddar. All of the cheeses were aged between 12 and 18 months, adding significantly to their value.
The strangeness of the scenario piqued the interest of several food-world figures, including chef Jamie Oliver, who dubbed the case the “grate cheese robbery” before calling on his 11 million Instagram followers to keep an eye out for the stolen products. Scotland Yard and other international authorities are actively searching for leads, and Neal’s Yard Dairy has even notified cheesemongers to be vigilant should they come across any suspicious stock, particularly in 22- or 52-pound blocks.
But sticker price aside, the investigation might have struck a deeper chord. Cheddar is a deeply English varietal of cheese named after the large village where it originated. Unlike, say, Champagne, its name is not a protected term, meaning it can be made anywhere in the world. Cheddar produced on English soil is especially prized, making a theft of this kind all the more concerning to the small local industry.
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