Criminals are increasingly targeting cheese sellers and stealing their products, dairy producer’s union Boerderijzuivelbond has said.

Cheese heists are nothing new but “over the last few years they have become a real problem”, Wim Meure, chairman of the association, told RTL Nieuws. In 2022, for example, thieves made off with 1,600 kilos of cheese worth €21,000 from a dairy farm in Fijnaart in Noord Brabant.

There are no exact figures but cheese is an attractive commodity for thieves, Meure said. “Whole wheels of cheese can cost as much as €100 to €150,” he told the broadcaster.

The cheeses have a registration number and can, therefore, be traced. In 2020, two people were arrested for stealing 300 cheeses worth €40,000 in Lievelde in Gelderland.  The cheeses were offered for sale on auction site Marktplaats but thanks to the registration numbers the culprits were soon found.

The latest theft took place in Utrecht where retailer Martijn van der Valk found his shop empty of cheese and other products just as he had stocked up for Easter. He lost some €20,000 worth of merchandise and said his cheeses are very likely abroad where they cannot be traced.

For cheese sellers, the thefts are “a financial disaster”, Meure said. “It will take at least a year before they can provide the cheese their customers want again. Old cheese needs to mature at least 12 months.”