Why luxury cheese is being targeted by organised crime gangs

When dairy husbandman Patrick Holden sat down astatine his room array to work his emails 1 time successful July, helium couldn’t judge his luck. A buyer, who claimed to correspond a French supermarket chain, wanted to bargain 22 tonnes of Hafod, his specializer cheddar.

“It was the biggest bid for our food we’ve ever received,” helium recalls, “and, due to the fact that it was from France, I thought, ‘finally, radical connected the continent are appreciating what we do’.”

The bid had been made done Neal’s Yard Dairy, an upmarket food seller and wholesaler, and the archetypal batch of Hafod arrived astatine its London basal successful September. It took up conscionable 1 quadrate metre connected a pallet but represented 2 years of effort and had a wholesale worth of £35,000.

“It’s 1 of the astir peculiar cheeses being made successful the UK,” explains Bronwen Percival, a purchaser astatine Neal’s Yard Dairy. Once bound successful muslin cloth and sealed with a furniture of lard, Hafod is aged for 18 months.

The workplace didn’t person capable to fulfil the order, truthful 20 tonnes of Somerset cheddar was besides provided by 2 different dairy farms to marque it up; successful all, this was £300,000-worth of immoderate of the astir costly food made successful the UK.

On 14 October, it was collected from Neal’s Yard’s warehouse by a courier and taken to a depot – and then, mysteriously, it disappeared.

There had, successful fact, been nary order. It came alternatively from idiosyncratic impersonating the expected buyer.

The theft made planetary headlines, and was nicknamed “the grate food robbery”. British cook Jamie Oliver warned his followers connected X: “If anyone hears thing astir posh food going for cheap, it’s astir apt immoderate wrong’uns.”

In precocious October, a 63-year-old antheral was arrested successful London, past released connected bail. And determination has been nary quality since. The 950 truckles of food – astir the value of 4 full-sized elephants – person disappeared without a trace.

“It is ridiculous,” says chap cheesemaker Tom Calver, whose cheddar was portion of the stolen consignment. “Out of each the things to bargain successful the satellite – 22 tonnes of cheese?”

And yet it isn’t arsenic astonishing arsenic it astatine archetypal seems – for this is acold from the archetypal theft of its kind.

Food-related crimes – which see smuggling, counterfeiting, and out-and-out theft – outgo the planetary nutrient manufacture betwixt US $30 to 50 cardinal a twelvemonth (£23-£38 billion), according to the World Trade Organisation. These scope from hijackings of freight lorries delivering nutrient to warehouses to the theft of 24 unrecorded lobsters from a retention pen successful Scotland.

But a fig of these nutrient crimes person besides targeted the food manufacture – and successful peculiar luxury cheese.

Last year, successful the run-up to Christmas, astir £50,000 worthy of food was stolen from a trailer successful a work presumption connected the M5 adjacent Worcester. The occupation isn't a caller 1 - arsenic acold backmost arsenic 1998, thieves broke into a storeroom and took 9 tonnes of cheddar from a family-run workplace successful Somerset.

It’s happening elsewhere successful Europe, too: successful 2016, criminals made disconnected with £80,000 of Parmigiano Reggiano from a warehouse successful bluish Italy. This peculiar benignant of parmesan, which requires astatine slightest a twelvemonth to mature, is created by pursuing a process that has been successful place, with small modification, for astir 1,000 years. At the clip of the heist, Italy’s Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium told CBS quality that astir $7 cardinal (£5.4m) worthy of food had been stolen successful a two-year period.

The occupation is lone acceptable to emergence crossed the manufacture arsenic food becomes much valuable. The wide terms of nutrient and non-alcoholic drinks successful the UK roseate astir 25% betwixt January 2022 and January 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics. Cheese, meanwhile, saw a akin terms hike successful the abstraction of a azygous year.

“Cheesemaking is an energy-intensive business,” says Patrick McGuigan, a specializer successful the dairy sector. This is due to the fact that successful the accumulation process beverage needs to beryllium heated up and, erstwhile made, food is stored successful energy-hungry refrigerators, meaning that substance prices play a large portion successful the cost. “And truthful determination was a large terms summation pursuing the disruption caused by Russia’s penetration of Ukraine.”

In 2024, wide nutrient terms ostentation successful the UK has fallen to 1.7 per cent, but little truthful for cheese. “The retail terms of cheddar accrued by 6.5 per cent up to May 2024,” adds McGuigan. “This is wherefore we’re seeing information tags connected blocks of cheddar successful supermarkets. Based connected terms alone, food is 1 of the astir desirable foods a transgression tin steal.”

Yet it isn’t the easiest merchandise to displacement – peculiarly farmhouse cheese, astir of which tends to beryllium dense and bulky and indispensable beryllium kept astatine circumstantial temperatures. As such, transporting it tin beryllium a costly, analyzable process that is beyond astir criminals – unless, of course, they are organised.

But the question that remains is who precisely these organised criminals are – and wherever does the food extremity up?

“There is simply a long-established transportation betwixt nutrient and organised crime,” says Andy Quinn of the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU), which was established successful 2015 pursuing the 2013 equine nutrient scandal. One illustration of this is the precocious proportionality of amerciable drugs smuggled done ineligible planetary nutrient proviso chains.

In September, dozens of kilograms of cocaine were recovered successful banana deliveries to 4 stores of a French supermarket, with constabulary unsure who the intended recipient was. For the drugs to scope the extremity of the nutrient proviso concatenation is highly unusual, but this method of transporting amerciable items crossed borders successful containers of nutrient is common.

According to Quinn, erstwhile cause cartels and different transgression operators summation a foothold into however a nutrient concern operates, they spot different opportunities. “They volition infiltrate a morganatic business, instrumentality power of its organisation networks and usage it to determination different amerciable items, including stolen food.”

For transgression networks, nutrient has different attractions. “They cognize crimes involving nutrient effect successful little terrible convictions than for importing drugs,” says Quinn, “but they tin inactive marque akin amounts of money.” Particularly if it’s a premium cheese.

The occupation for the criminals is what to bash with it. “There are fewer places to offload them,” says Jamie Montgomery, who runs the Somerset workplace that was targeted successful the 1998 heist. “Shifting that overmuch artisan food is difficult.”

This is wherefore radical successful the manufacture judge stolen food is often sent overseas to countries wherever determination are thriving nutrient achromatic markets – and so food achromatic markets.

Russia is 1 state wherever determination is simply a thriving achromatic marketplace for cheese. Following the amerciable annexation of Crimea successful March 2014, the EU and different states imposed economical sanctions connected Russia. President Vladimir Putin responded by banning caller nutrient from the countries down the sanctions.

State tv made a large amusement of the prohibition by broadcasting footage of overseas nutrient being bulldozed, buried oregon burned, including immense cheeses being dumped and crushed.

Soon the alleged "fromagicide'"was worldwide news.

Since the full-scale penetration of Ukraine, sanctions person been further tightened and the availability of definite nutrient from the West has go adjacent much limited, among them Scottish whisky and Norwegian salmon. At the aforesaid time, the achromatic marketplace successful Russia for high-end foods from the EU has been growing.

“Cheese and vino are 2 of the astir communal products being transported illegally into Russia,” says Professor Chris Elliott, laminitis of the Global Institute for Food Security and a elder technological advisor to the UN, “and determination are blase routes crossed Europe’s borders done Belarus and Georgia”.

Many Russians consciousness that the prime of section food doesn’t comparison to banned overseas goods, truthful determination is wide demand. Indeed, aft the ban, immoderate resorted to utmost measures – 1 antheral was caught attempting to thrust into Russia from Poland with 460kg of banned food connected the backseat of his car.

Since 2014, costly and analyzable varieties of food from countries that were not antecedently known for their food person appeared connected store shelves, specified arsenic Belarusian camembert and parmesan. Some companies import European food to Belarus oregon different CIS countries, wherever the statement is swapped truthful that it tin beryllium sold legally successful Russian shops.

There were besides reports of country shops becoming achromatic marketplace food dealers.

Corruption makes the question of sanction-busting nutrient possible, says Prof Elliott. “So overmuch wealth is progressive that officials, including borderline guards, tin beryllium paid off. Sanctioned goods are bought and sold done integer networks and these online orders besides marque it into shops.”

Paul Thomas spent years moving cheesemaking courses successful Russia. When helium visited Moscow aft the sanctions were tightened, helium observed firsthand that banned cheeses were being displayed openly connected the shelves of shops. “There was plentifulness of authentic Italian Parmigiano Reggiano and French Roquefort, each intelligibly labelled”.

He besides observed that cheesemakers successful Russia person been boosting accumulation and attempting to emulate types of European cheese.

It’s not conscionable Russia – successful assorted parts of the Middle East, for example, nutrient subsidies successful 1 state tin supply an inducement to smuggle ingredients into others wherever governments supply nary enactment and prices are high. Counterfeiting, oregon creating a replica of an authoritative benignant of cheese, is besides communal successful the region.

And successful the US, strict national rules mean it’s amerciable to nutrient oregon import unpasteurised cheeses aged for little than 60 days, starring to a achromatic marketplace for raw-milk products specified arsenic French classics Brie de Meaux and Mont d’Or. In 2015, a raw-milk trafficking pack was prosecuted for distributing unpasteurised cheeses.

Food counterfeiting besides happens successful the US – successful immoderate cases, inexpensive and adjacent unsafe ingredients are being utilized to nutrient “fake” versions of costly cheese, specified arsenic parmesan made utilizing additives derived from wood pulp.

Andy Quinn explains: “Food chains are genuinely global. The aforesaid goes for the question of amerciable food.”

Now, galore successful the manufacture are warring back, however. Italy’s Parmigiano Reggiano Consortium – the cheesemakers down the world’s astir stolen food – person said that the achromatic marketplace for that assortment is “robust”. This is partially down to the information that it is hugely valuable, generating planetary income of astir £3bn a twelvemonth – and truthful they person travel up with a unsocial mode of protecting it.

In 2022, the consortium began introducing tracking chips, nary larger than a atom of rice, arsenic portion of the statement embedded successful the hard rind of the cheese. This helps to trim thefts, but besides means counterfeit Parmigiano Reggiano tin beryllium identified, arsenic each tiny spot contains a unsocial integer ID that tin authenticate the cheese.

Buyers tin present scan each instrumentality to cheque its authenticity oregon find retired if it was stolen. The consortium is yet to merchandise immoderate figures showing whether the exertion is cutting down levels of fraud.

Neal’s Yard Dairy says it plans to usage a little high-tech attack to preventing aboriginal fraud, including visiting buyers successful idiosyncratic erstwhile large food orders are made, alternatively than relying connected integer contracts and emails.

As for what volition go of the cheddar stolen successful the October heist, determination whitethorn beryllium nary swift solution: fixed that they could easy beryllium stored for arsenic agelong arsenic 2 years, the food could inactive aboveground galore months from now.

“A transgression could fell tonnes distant and past walk them slowly, truckle by truckle, into proviso chains,” says Ben Lambourne of the online retailer Pong Cheese.

For the cheesemakers, this isn’t conscionable astir a stolen food; the missing Hafod, Westcombe and Pitchfork correspond ways of farming and nutrient accumulation that took thousands of years to evolve, shaped landscapes and became portion of British culture, yet which person been each but mislaid successful conscionable a fewer generations.

Lancashire-based cheesemonger Andy Swinscoe says that astatine the opening of the 20th Century, successful the country surrounding his store determination were 2,000 farmhouse cheesemakers. Today, determination are conscionable five. There person been declines successful Somerset with cheddar makers, successful the East Midlands with Stilton and successful the north-west with Cheshire cheese.

“It would beryllium intolerable for these tiny household farms to past by selling liquid milk,” says Swinscoe – but they tin adhd worth by turning their beverage into a farmhouse cheese.

Patrick Holden admits that the fiscal nonaccomplishment from this theft would person had a immense interaction connected his farm. “A fraud of this standard tin easy spell the extremity of a workplace and cheesemaking.” In this instance, Neal's Yard paid its suppliers successful full, describing the effect of the fraud connected their concern arsenic “a important fiscal blow”.

Unless crimes similar this are stopped, however, different farms and businesses volition endure akin blows, peculiarly erstwhile luxury food remains sought-after and prized.

“Conflicts astir the world, the cost-of-living crisis, adjacent clime change, each summation the entreaty for nutrient fraud,” says the NFCU’s Andy Quinn. Until that changes, cheesemakers mightiness request to tighten up their information – and deliberation doubly erstwhile an bid seems excessively bully to beryllium true.