Ballarat thieves set sights on supermarket meat for easy cash

A man has been charged over three meat thefts in Ballarat as an industry body confirmed thefts were an increasing challenge for Aussie retailers. Read why.

Ballarat thieves are robbing local supermarkets of meat multiple times a week.

The Australian Retailers Association on Monday confirmed an increase in shoplifting at its members’ stores, including of meat products, after Ballarat police earlier charged a man over three meat thefts from Ballarat businesses.

A Ballarat police officer confirmed that such shoplifting appeared to be a “regular occurrence” in town.

“You can go to a supermarket, you can fill up a trolley full of meat or a basket full of meat, and get on your way, unfortunately,” they said.

“We’ve got a few offenders that do that business that obviously are using drugs and they’re selling the meat to fund that lifestyle.

“Whether they’re selling it to individual parties or whether they’ve managed to find a restaurant or a butcher or a hotel that wants to buy the meat in bulk off them – we don’t know at the moment.”

They said the trend had gone on for months.

“It’s one of those things: they target meat, they target toiletries, they target vitamin tablets. They’ll take them in bulk and then they’re sold on to various different people by various different means.

“I think from a health and safety point of view it’s pretty bad. They’re not transporting this meat in a refrigerated vehicle or anything like that.”

ARA chief executive Paul Zahra said financial loss from theft was “proving to be an increasing risk for retailers”, particularly small businesses.

He said there was a move towards organised crime - several people conspiring to steal - with the intention to resell purloined items for a profit.

“Retailers are already battling rising operating costs associated with fuel, energy, labour, supply chains, rent and loans – and crime only exacerbates these struggles,” he said.

“The extent by which our members are being affected by theft varies. Typically, supermarkets, electronics, fashion and accessory retailers bear the brunt of shoplifting. Large items like furniture for example, have lower rates of theft for obvious reasons.

“There’s no definitive cause as to why people shoplift. The increase could be attributed to a range of factors, such as higher school truancy rates, the increasing cost of living or even increased psychological and mental health issues arising from the pandemic.”

He said venues having to invest in better security “ultimately hurts smaller mum-and-dad businesses the most”.