Thieves have just stolen $390,000 worth of award-winning Cheddar in England

A recent cheese robbery has put Scotland Yard on the case.

The fromage in question was not an ordinary supermarket variety. The owners of Neal’s Yard Dairy, a distributor and wholesaler of fine British cheeses, were conned out of almost 1,000 wheels of award-winning, fabric-wrapped artisan cheddar. The 48,488 pounds of aged dairy products 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 thieves,” the company told the newspaper Associated press.

Although no suspects have yet been identified or captured, what is known about the robbery reads like a television plot. Someone posing as a wholesaler for a major French retailer approached Neal’s Yard Dairy about purchasing the cheese and disappeared with the handmade goods before the company noticed the cheese was gone.

The stolen wheels were made by three leading manufacturers: Hafod Welsh organic cheddar, Westcombe cheddar and Pitchfork cheddar. All cheeses were aged between 12 and 18 months, which added significantly to their value.

The strangeness of the scenario piqued the interest of several food world figures, including chef Jamie Oliver, who founded the ‘grated cheese robberybefore 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 clues, and Neal’s Yard Dairy has even warned cheesemongers to be vigilant if they come across suspicious stocks, especially in 22 or 52 pound blocks.

But beyond the sticker price, the study might have struck a deeper chord. Cheddar is a deep English cheese, named after the large village where it comes from. Unlike, for example Champagnethe name is not a protected term, meaning it can be created anywhere in the world. Cheddar produced on English soil is highly prized, making such theft all the more worrying for the small local industry.

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