Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has asked his followers to be alert for “lorryloads of very posh cheese” being sold on “for cheap” after a retailer had more than 22 tonnes of product stolen by scammers.
Neal’s Yard Dairy, which sells and distributes British artisan cheese, was duped by a “fraudulent buyer posing as a legitimate wholesale distributor for a major French retailer”.
Over 950 wheels of Hafod, Westcombe, and Pitchfork Cheddar – which would have been worth around £300,000 – were delivered before the fraud was discovered.
“There has been a great cheese robbery,” Oliver told his 10.5m Instagram followers.
“Some of the best cheddar cheese in the world has been stolen.”
Calling it a “real shame”, he said, “if anyone hears anything about posh cheese going for cheap, it is probably some wrong’uns.
“So if anyone hears anything about lorryloads of posh cheese, I mean I don’t know what they are going to do with it, really.
“Are they going to unpeel it from the cloth, and cut it and grate it and get rid of it in the fast food industry, in the commercial industry? I don’t know – it feels like a really weird thing to nick.”
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The amount stolen equals the entire annual production of Hafod cheese, “potentially creating a significant gap in the artisanal cheese market”, Oliver said.
Neal’s Yard has promised to still pay all three artisan cheesemakers in full.
“Remember, if the deal seems too gouda to be true, it probably is! Let’s find these cheese stealers,” Oliver concluded in his Instagram caption.
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Tom Calver, from Westcombe Dairy, shared a video on Instagram showing the inside of the dairy, pointing to the empty shelves behind him to show how much cheese had been stolen.
“I feel a bit weird about it, actually,” he said. “Out of all the stuff to steal. Cheddar. It’s almost feels like an honour that it has got such value.”
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Trethowan Brothers, who make Pitchfork Cheddar, praised Neal’s Yard for how it handled the theft.
“The way they have handled this horrible situation has only deepened our respect and admiration for them,” the Somerset cheesemakers wrote on Instagram.
“Their 30-year relationship with us and so many other producers is a rare and shining example of trust and integrity-a true force for good in business, retailer-producer relationships, and in life. We are proud to supply them and call them our friends.”
