A daring robbery in the UK in October thrust the profitable but risky world of luxury cheese into the spotlight. The incident was dubbed “The Great Cheese Robbery”, in which 22 tonnes of premium British cheese disappeared after fraudulent orders were placed under the guise of a French supermarket chain. The stolen consignment, valued at over £300,000 (approximately Rs 3.26 crore), included specialty cheeses from farms in Somerset, including a rare 18-month-old Cheddar Hafod.
Dairy farmer Patrick Holden, of Hafod, was initially thrilled with what he believed was the largest order his farm had ever received. “It was the biggest order we’ve ever received for our cheese,” Holden told the BBC. And, because it was from France, I thought, ‘Finally, people from the continent are appreciating what we do.’
His excitement was cut short when the order turned out to be a scam and the cheese went missing after being collected by a courier. A 63-year-old man was arrested in London in late October, later released on bail. Since then, there have been no updates, and 950 trucks of cheese – around the weight of four full-sized elephants – disappeared without a trace.
The stolen cheese, which also included Hafod worth £35,000 (about Rs 38.13 lakh), was processed through Neil Yard Dairy, an upscale London wholesaler. The robbery shocked the cheese industry, which has been targeted by criminals because of the rising price of luxury dairy products.
While the scale of the cheese theft was extraordinary, it is part of a broader increase in food-related crimes that cost the global food industry billions in losses each year. Cheese, especially high-quality varieties, has become an attractive target for organized criminals. Food-related crimes have flourished, from smuggling and counterfeiting to outright theft, with some gangs specializing in stealing valuable products such as Parmigiano Reggiano and cheddar.
“Cheesemaking is an energy-intensive business,” dairy sector expert Patrick McGuigan was quoted as saying by the BBC. “There was a big increase in prices after the disruption caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” McGuigan said. The economic effects of the war and ongoing inflation have made cheese increasingly expensive, increasing its demand among criminals seeking to profit from this lucrative market.
In particular, the price of cheese in the UK has recently increased, with some varieties seeing prices rise by as much as 6.5% in 2024. “Based on price alone, cheese is one of the most desirable foods that a criminal can steal,” McGuigan said. Said.
Luxury cheese piracy isn’t just about high prices. Food holds additional attraction for criminal networks. Andy Quinn of the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU) said, “They (criminals) know that food crimes carry less severe penalties than importing drugs, but they can still make the same amount of money ” This is especially true when it comes to premium cheese.
The black market for stolen cheese is global. In 2016, £80,000 worth of Parmigiano Reggiano was stolen in Italy.
“Cheese and wine are the two most common products smuggled into Russia,” says Professor Chris Elliott, founder of the Global Institute for Food Security.
The Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium is tackling black market theft of its prized cheese by embedding tiny tracking chips in the rind. These chips, larger than a grain of rice, contain unique digital IDs to verify authenticity and trace stolen cheese. Shoppers can scan the cheese to check its validity, although the consortium has not yet released data on the impact of this technology on fraud.
