In British Columbia, store owner Joe Shaput has decided to pay $5,500 a month for security guards and upgrade his store's camera system at a cost of $5,000 to combat food thefts during the holiday season.

Chaput is the owner of Les Amis du Fromage, a specialty cheese shop with two locations in Vancouver. Although cheese thefts are rare at the Kitsilano-area store, at a branch east of Vancouver it's a recurring problem, with a month of peace sometimes when several people steal cheese in a week.

He says that thieves usually go for expensive goods and try to steal from different parts of the store away from customers.

The increase in the price of cheese and butter has led to an increase in food theft in Canada. Organized crime groups exploit these goods to sell on the black market.

Capt. Mansoor Sohak of the North Vancouver Police said that cheese is a target for theft because of its resale ability. He also mentioned that meat is another main target of food thieves.

Police in Ontario are also following up on the Korean thefts. In October, two men entered a store and stole $936 in butter. The Gulf police said in this context that these thefts seem to be organized and some thieves take large quantities of butter to the black market.

With these problems on the rise, experts recommend that stores invest in theft prevention, but the use of electronic tags for goods such as cheese and butter is still rare.

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