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Thieves just stole 0,000 worth of award-winning cheddar in England
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Thieves just stole $390,000 worth of award-winning cheddar in England

A recent cheese theft has Scotland Yard on the case.

The cheese in question was no ordinary supermarket variety. The owners of Neal’s Yard Dairy, a distributor and wholesaler of fine British cheeses, were cheated out of nearly 1,000 wheels of award-winning, cloth-wrapped artisan cheddar. The 48,488 pounds of stale dairy has a combined value of a staggering $390,000.

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“The high monetary value of these cheeses likely made them a particular target for thieves,” the company told Associated Press.

While no suspects have yet been identified or captured, what is known about the robbery sounds like a TV plot. Someone posing as a wholesale distributor for a major French retailer approached Neal’s Yard Dairy to buy the cheese and disappeared with the artisanal products before the company noticed it was gone.

The stolen wheels were made by three distinguished producers: Hafod Welsh organic cheddar, Westcombe cheddar and Pitchfork cheddar. All cheeses have been matured between 12 and 18 months, significantly increasing their value.

The strangeness of the scenario has piqued the interest of several figures in the food world, including chef Jamie Oliver, who called the case “cheese theft” before calling on his 11 million Instagram followers to keep an eye out for the stolen goods. Scotland Yard and other international authorities are actively looking for clues, and Neal’s Yard Dairy has even told cheesemongers to be vigilant if they come across any suspicious stock, particularly in 22 or 52 pound blocks.

But sticker price aside, the investigation may have struck a deeper chord. Cheddar is a deeply English cheese, named after the large village where it originated. Unlike, say, Champagneits name is not a protected term, meaning it can be made anywhere in the world. Cheddar produced on English soil is particularly prized, making such a theft all the more worrying for the small local industry.

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