Mr Calver’s Westcombe Cheddar is aged between 12 and 18 months and he said the stolen cheese was made 15 months ago.

He added: “Is it ridiculous – of all the things in the world to steal – 22 tonnes of cheese?”

“What it shows, what I’m amazed at, is the value people place on these amazing artisan foods.”

Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has asked his social media followers to watch out for “fancy cheese trucks” being sold “on the cheap”.

He told his 10.5 million followers: “It was a big cheese robbery. Some of the best cheddar in the world has been stolen.”

Oliver described it as a “real shame”, adding: “If anyone hears about fancy cheese going cheap, it’s probably a bug.

“They’re going to peel it off the canvas, cut it and shred it and get rid of it in the fast food industry, in the commercial industry? I don’t know — it feels like a very strange thing to cut.”

He said: “What worries me is the trust element of things. At the end of the day, what we need is more trust in the food supply system, rather than less.

“I hope more people will want to know where their food comes from.”

Mr Calver’s Cheddar sells for £7 for 250g.

“What we do is we have two herds of cows. We sleep in a regenerative way, trying to work with nature rather than against it,” he said.

“We try for quality and we try to create a flavor of a certain place and moment in time.”

The Metropolitan Police said they were investigating the incident and no arrests had been made.