That’s a lot of cheddar.
British cheesemongers were bamboozled into giving away over 48,000 pounds of artisanal cheddar.
Neal’s Yard Dairy of London says it was tricked into sending 950 wheels of clothbound cheddar – worth over $388,000 – to scammers who pretended to be wholesalers from a major French retailer, according to an Instagram post.
Wheels of Hafod, Westcombe, and Pitchfork Cheddar were delivered to the fromage fraudsters who then ghosted the mongers and cheesed it with their savory loot.
Neal’s, which is a distributor and retailer of British and Irish cheeses, says they have reimbursed three small-scale cheesemakers who provided the product.
They didn’t explain how the small company’s cheese wound up being sent to fraudsters, but the expense is taking a hunk out of Neal’s financial books.
“Despite the significant financial blow, we have honored our commitment to our small-scale suppliers and paid all three artisan cheesemakers in full,” the cheesemongers wrote in the Instagram post.
cheese that was stolen. Nealâs Yard Dairy/Facebook
They went on to ask their peers in the cheese community to keep a sharp nose out for clothbound cheddars in 22-pound and 52-pound wheels that suspicious provenance.
Patrick Holden, who owns the farm that made the Hafod cheddar, told The Guardian, “It might sound naive to fall victim to a scam, but the truth is that the artisan cheese world is a place where trust is deeply embedded in all transactions. The breach of trust by this fraudulent customer is a violation of the atmosphere of good faith and respect… It’s a world where one’s word is one’s bond.”
Another farmer, Tom Calver, told the BBC, “The process of making cheese started almost three years ago, when we planted seeds for the animals’ feed.”
“The amount of work that’s gone into nurturing the cows, emphasizing best farming practice, and transforming the milk one batch at a time to produce the best possible cheese is beyond estimation. And for that to be stolen… it’s absolutely terrible.”
The Metropolitan Police said in a statement that they are investigating “the theft of a large quantity of cheese” but no arrests have been made.
