The luxury good of choice on the black market is not what you’d expect. Counterfeit designer leather goods and premium sneakers often snag headlines when it comes to illicit trade, but cheese is quickly becoming a hot commodity, the BBC reported. Yes, the familiar dairy product has drawn the attention of international smugglers and other parties looking to profit from the most luxurious varieties.
The practice gained wider attention just last month when what became known as the Grate Cheese Heist became an internet sensation. That robbery involved the disappearance of $390,000 of prized English cheddar, but it was just the tip of the iceberg. In general, food-related crimes are on the rise, with losses for the food industry sitting between $30 billion to $50 billion, the World Trade Organization estimates.
Luxury cheese, however, has stood out as a category of particular interest, with signs appearing as far back as 2016. That year, criminals absconded with nearly $103,000 of Parmigiano Reggiano from a warehouse in Italy, but industry members who spoke to the CBC at the time divulged that $7 million of the famous pasta companion had been stolen over a two-year period. With rising costs, cheese has only continued to gain value.
“Cheesemaking is an energy-intensive business,” Patrick McGuigan, a specialist in the dairy sector, told the BBC. He attributes this to the production process itself, which involves heating milk and then storing the finished product in energy-cons.
