cheese-wire.com

Cheese thieves with a taste for high-class produce have prompted a British superstore to take the unusual step of placing wedges of parmesan in tamper proof security boxes.

Up to 70 percent of expensive cheeses were vanishing from the shelves of Sainsbury’s superstore in Bedford before the lockdown, the Bedfordshire on Sunday newspaper reported.

Among cheeses regularly targeted were Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Romano, the paper said.

These were now being placed inside special plastic boxes, of a kind usually reserved for high value non-foodstuffs such as DVDs or compact discs, it said.

A Sainsbury’s spokesman told the paper: “Security tags have been in use across our stores for some time on higher value goods such as wines, spirits and health and beauty products.

“Other items, such as cheese, can also be tagged at the discretion of individual store managers.”

The paper quoted one store customer speculating that the disappearance of fancy cheeses was a sign of the credit crunch hitting middle class consumers.

“I wonder how long it’ll be before smoked salmon, Balsamic vinegar and rocket are brought out to the shelves by security guards.”