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Fraudsters steal 22 tonnes of high-value cheddar
- JanSolo 2y agoSome high-impact reporting there from the BBC! Also contains my favourite quote of the day: "Westcombe Dairy's maturing cave is equipped with cheddar-turning robot, nicknamed Tina the Turner"
- ForOldHack 2y agoThis machine needs its own post: "cheddar-turning robot, nicknamed Tina the Turner." www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hnQnTRIfws
- tonetegeatinst 2y agoThe silent implication of a cheese black market is horrifying yet somewhat amusing. Imagine trying to buy stolen wheels of Parmigianino or German cheese.
- lastofthemojito 2y agoI like to imagine police had been following these guys for weeks after noting suspicious behavior, but were unable to crack the criminals' presumed code, "they keep talking about a big cheese heist and taking lots of cheddar - but what's the target, is it a bank or a museum or a jeweler?" Nope, they were just talking about stealing cheese.
- ortusdux 2y agoCounterfeiting is a major concern. Parmigianino Reggiano producers have been testing laser activated RFID chips for traceability. https://futurism.com/the-byte/cheese-tracking-chips-parmesan https://futurism.com/the-byte/cheese-tracking-chips-parmesan https://p-chip.com/about/ https://p-chip.com/about/
- thaumasiotes 2y ago> Counterfeiting is a major concern. To who? Suppose I buy some "Parmesan cheese" and it tastes exactly like Parmesan cheese. What's the problem supposed to be? In what sense is the cheese counterfeit at all?
- wormlord 2y agoParmesano Reggiano has to come from the Parma region of Italy and is certified by some consortium of cheese makers I think. Same thing with San Marzano tomatoes. There's not a problem per-se, but the issue is that in all reality you'd probably be getting an inferior product. The exclusivity is done so that consumers can be ensured that they are getting cheese from a specific area with specific criteria.
- rcruzeiro 2y agoIf you paid for Parmesan cheese and got something else, I’d say that’s already a problem. We are not even taking into consideration that counterfeit food products adhere to no food safety standards.
- thaumasiotes 2y ago> If you paid for Parmesan cheese and got something else, I’d say that’s already a problem. Kind of an ironic claim in a discussion of Cheddar cheese.
- bee_rider 2y agoI guess real Parmesan cheese complies with the food safety regulations of Parma, while most knock off (for example) American brands will comply with the local food safety regulations. I mean… I dunno, it isn’t as if I actually believe my country has sane regulations. But I’ve presumably already eaten lots of American sawdust in my powdered cheese products, how bad could it be for me? What kind of sawdust do they have in Parma?
- stouset 2y ago
- satvikpendem 2y agoDo you know about the maggot filled cheese from Sardinia, casu martzu? It is illegal in the EU but it is still sold illegally around the area of its inception. It's illegal because sometimes the maggots could survive in your intestines to cause damage.
- inglor_cz 2y agoEating food that can eat you back ... a real ouroboros.
- satvikpendem 2y agoPineapple is similar in that it has enzymes that digest your tongue as you eat it.
- deepfriedchokes 2y agoI bet you are fun to talk to at parties and I mean that in a good way.
- foo42 2y agoI've always disliked how my tongue feels when eating pineapple (so I rarely do) this explains it!
- saaaaaam 2y agoThis is the reason that traditionally a “gammon steak” is served grilled with pineapple. The pineapple helps tenderise the meat. Which in turn is why in the US pineapple started to be put on pizza that had ham on it.
- satvikpendem 2y agoYou can also tenderize tough cuts of steak in a marinade as well.
- hinkley 2y ago
- sampo 2y agoIn 2014 EU put sanctions on exporting certain goods to Russia, and Russia put counter-sanctions on e.g. importing European cheese to Russia. But Russian people still wantef higher quality cheese, so smuggling cheese across the Finnish-Russian border was quite common in the years following. But this is only 100kg: https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/oltermanni-salakuljettaja-jai-kiinni-tullissa-yritti-vieda-lahes-sata-kiloa-juustoa-rajan-yli/6531444 https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/oltermanni-salakuljettaj...
- trhway 2y agomore typical since 2014 the situation of the goods like Norwegian salmon disappearing from the Russian market while the goods that were never there until 2014 like Belarussian salmon (while Belarussia is still landlocked :) quickly becoming available in large volumes on Russian market. Similarly with Armenian electronics which never been there until 2022.
- deepfriedchokes 2y agoThat’s crazy where do they sell these black market cheeses anyway? Asking for a friend.
- drewcoo 2y agoRestaurants. Grocers. Cheese shops. Businesses with tight margins that might be willing to consider something that "fell off a truck." You'd have to be pretty bad at reselling to resort to selling it out of the back of a car.
- fecal_henge 2y agoObligatory mental image of someone opening mackintosh to reveal suspended cheeses inside.
- trhway 2y agoHow one would launder all that cheese? Even say having some big retailer involved, some customers would probably still recognize that the cheese is from that batch.
- Ma8ee 2y agoSmall corner shops that buys a few legal pieces of cheese through officials channels, but buy the bulk on the black market for a fraction of the price.
- tomwphillips 2y agoThis is pretty niche cheddar. I doubt it’s being sold at a corner shop alongside warm cans of Carlsberg!
- tomwphillips 2y agoI imagine it will be smuggled out of the country immediately. No cheese buyer at a large retailer in the UK would touch it. It’s not worth the risk. Similarly at the artisan end of the market, it’s a small world (like the article says) - why would you risk your personal and commercial reputation buying stolen goods? You wouldn’t.
- thimabi 2y agoI wonder how they are going to smuggle such a gigantic quantity of cheese out of the country. It’s kind of hard to move 22 tonnes of anything without raising suspicion, and doing so in a hurry poses additional challenges.
- makapuf 2y agoLet's start investigating Gromit!
- bell-cot 2y agoWallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl is due for release this month, so they'll be available. Current Working Title: Wheel of Feta
- hinkley 2y agoMy favorite cheese fact is, and shall always be, that Wallace and Gromit saved Wensleydale cheese from ceasing production by having it be Wallace's favorite cheese in A Close Shave. Nick Park just liked the sound of the name.
- vr46 2y agoIt's only 22 tons, we could probably polish that off over a weekend.
- hinkley 2y agoThey'll need an awful lot of crackers for that.
- nutrie 2y agoVery British :)
- dogsgobork 2y agoThis is up there with the Canadian maple syrup theft in the "Crimes most befitting their country" list.
- jll29 2y agoWhile we're at it, I drove a small amount of Normandy Camembert through the Northern part of Alsace today, but it was strictly for personal consumption only and legally obtained from Carrefour. Mystery how folks could spend GBP 11 for 250 g of Cheddar !?
- naikrovek 2y agoOh no, me cheese
- hulitu 2y agoIs it possible that Scotland Yard does not have sniffing dogs ?
- IndrekR 2y ago300000£/22000kg≈13.6£/kg Not sure what they mean by “high value” here.
- Symbiote 2y agoPerhaps read beyond the first sentence. > Neal's Yard Dairy sells Hafod Welsh for £12.90 for a 300g piece, while Westcombe costs £7.15 for 250g and Pitchfork is priced at £11 for 250g.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- bee_rider 2y agoWell, the whole block is still pretty expensive. To convert it to American, I think that is like $8/lb or so? So it is a little more expensive than Tillamoook (which is a decent, but definitely mass market, brand) but same order of magnitude. Although I guess that must be the wholesale price.
- hinkley 2y agoIf it was stolen from a wholesaler it's possible they're using the wholesale price for the charges. But the local big cheese seller is selling theirs for about 10£/kg. Cheddar is sort of a bulk cheese. We use a lot of it.
- joshstrange 2y agoIf you also saw the line: > Westcombe Dairy's maturing cave is equipped with cheddar-turning robot, nicknamed Tina the Turner And wanted to see it in action, here is a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDLJwmdonIo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDLJwmdonIo
- Ductapemaster 2y agoAwesome! That is a vastly more complex machine and action than I was expecting. Seems like there is more to the process than just flipping it over.
- joshstrange 2y agoYep, I thought the same thing. The comments/description said it brushes the outside for cheese mites/dust/etc and then flips it.
- ahazred8ta 2y agoThis is not the first time a cheese facility has had a security breach. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NEPfNrRBnDs https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NEPfNrRBnDs (IBM cheddar cheese hack ad)
- fecal_henge 2y agoThat was wonderfull.
- hinkley 2y agoYou're simply the best.
- runep 2y agoCheddar than all the rest.
- throw0101a 2y agoSee also perhaps: > The Great Canadian Maple Syrup Heist (French: vol de sirop d'érable du siècle, lit. 'maple syrup heist of the century') was the theft over several months in 2011 and 2012 of nearly 3,000 tonnes (3,000 long tons; 3,300 short tons) of maple syrup, valued at C$18.7 million (equivalent to C$24.1 million in 2023) from a storage facility in Quebec. The facility was operated by the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers (French: Fédération des producteurs acéricoles du Québec, FPAQ) which represents 77 percent of the global maple syrup supply.[1] * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Canadian_Maple_Syrup_Heist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Canadian_Maple_Syrup_Hei...
- ptek 2y agoI wonder if this is the start of a new criminal market and if there are any heavies involved or the big players involved? Any one know if any cheese is showing up on the dark nets? It's not illegal, illegal so it should get through the post easily and use refrigeration transport and less hassle if you get pulled over by the cops. Some countries like New Zealand are pretty strict with dairy imports so trying to get brunost from Norway...
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Symbiote 2y agoPossibly Russia, where it might be desired but not possible to buy officially?
- tristramb 2y agoAnother excuse for Michael Palin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz1JWzyvv8A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz1JWzyvv8A
- fanatic2pope 2y agoCo-incidentally, Palin kept an office in Neal's Yard! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal%27s_Yard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neal%27s_Yard
- edanm 2y agoFood heist! If anyone here is a fan of Brandon Sanderson but doesn't listen to his podcast with Dan Wells, called Intentionally Blank, you might enjoy it. And one of their things is to start off most episodes with a news story about a food heist - this apparently happens a lot.
- foo42 2y agoThanks for the recommendation. I've enjoyed a lot of Sanderson books (although not all of them clicked with me) and I'm always looking for a new podcast
- wkat4242 2y agoReminds me of the story from the expanse lol
- ed_mercer 2y agoHey, I was looking for this comment ;)
- protomolecool 2y ago[dead]
- frank_bb 2y ago[dead]
- zeagle 2y agoFun cheese fact: the Fibroscan tool that checks for liver cirrhosis/fibrosis non invasively came out of a tool designed to assess elasticity of cheese wheels like the ones in the article! https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/vision/rethinking-how-we-detect-liver-disease https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/vision/rethinking-how-we-detect...
- pixelpoet 2y agoThat is indeed a fun fact!
- reneberlin 2y agoI thought they track them with RFID. Ratatouille has of course separated them before eating.