The Neal’s Yard Heist: Why Luxury Cheese Is Targeted by Criminals

Neal’s Yard Dairy says it plans to take a less high-tech approach to prevent future fraud, including visiting buyers in person when large cheese orders are made, rather than relying on digital contracts and emails.

As for what will happen to the cheddar stolen during the October heist, there may be no quick fix: Since they can easily be stored for two years, the cheese could still surface many months from now.

“A criminal could hide barrels and then slowly pass them through supply chains, truck by truck,” says Ben Lambourne of online retailer Pong Cheese.

For the cheesemakers, it’s not just about stolen food; the missing Hafod, Westcombe and Pitchfork represent ways of farming and food production that took thousands of years to evolve, shaped landscapes and became part of British culture, but were virtually lost in just a few generations.

Lancashire-based cheesemonger Andy Swinscoe says there were 2,000 farm cheesemakers in the area around his shop in the early 20th century. Today there are only five. There has been a decline in Somerset with cheddar makers, in the East Midlands with Stilton and in the North West with Cheshire cheese.

“It would be impossible for these small family farms to survive by selling liquid milk,” says Swinscoe – but they can add value by turning their milk into farmhouse cheese.

Patrick Holden admits that the financial loss resulting from this theft would have had a huge impact on his farm. “A fraud of this magnitude could easily mean the end of a farm and cheese factory.” In this case, Neal’s Yard paid its suppliers in full and described the effect of the fraud on their business as “a significant financial blow”.

However, if these types of crimes are not stopped, other farms and businesses will suffer similar blows, especially if luxury cheese remains sought after and valued.

“Conflicts around the world, the cost of living crisis and even climate change are all increasing the attraction for food fraud,” says Andy Quinn of the NFCU. Until that changes, cheesemakers may need to tighten their security — and think twice if an order seems too good to be true.