Britain's most famous chef, Jamie Oliver, has called on cheese lovers to help police catch crooks who stole 22 tonnes of English and Welsh cheddar from a London merchant by posing as a wholesaler.

Oliver described the robbery as a "brazen heist of shocking proportions". He urged his Instagram followers to be on their guard in case they heard of "shipments of very posh cheese" being offered "for cheap", adding that the stolen cheddar was worth around £300,000 ($390,000). 

Cheese merchant Neal's Yard Dairy has admitted supplying more than 950 wheels of cheddar to an alleged fraudster posing as a wholesaler acting for a major French retailer, before realizing he had been duped. 

The London-based company, one of Britain's leading distributors and retailers of local artisan cheeses, said it had paid Hafod, Westcombe and Pitchfork, the small producers of the stolen cheese, so they would not have to suffer from the scam. 

Neal's Yard Dairy says it is working with London's Metropolitan Police to identify the perpetrators. The police said in a statement on Friday that they were investigating "the theft of a large quantity of cheese" from the London merchant, adding that no arrests had been made so far. 

Neal's Yard Dairy is appealing to cheesemakers around the world to contact it if they suspect they have been sold the stolen cheese, particularly 10kg and 24kg wheels of cheddar wrapped in cloth with the labels removed.