A supplier has told the BBC that the stolen cheddar from Neal’s Yard Dairy in London could have been shipped abroad to be sold on. The cheese, worth £300,000, was among 22 tonnes of food stolen in a recent scam, which saw fraudsters posing as legitimate wholesalers to obtain clothbound cheeses from the company. The cheeses, including Patrick Holden’s Hafod Welsh Cheddar, Westcombe and Pitchfork varieties, retail for up to £45 per kg. The theft has been called a “violation” of trust by Holden, while the dairy itself has thanked supporters on social media.
Holden also said he believed that the theft had been a “sophisticated” con, potentially aimed at distributing the products in locations such as Russia and the Middle East. He and Neal’s Yard had believed that the large order came from an agent for a French supermarket. There is no suggestion of where the theft took place, or of any potential motive.
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver took to Instagram to appeal for people to lookout for “lorryloads of posh cheese” being sold cheaply and called the theft of so much of the “best cheddar cheese in the world” a “real shame”. Holden stated that while it was a “sad story”, he believed that the incident would help to emphasise the need for “trusted and transparent ways to get our food from the people who produce it
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