British authorities recovered a stolen van containing 2,500 stolen pies in a bizarre food theft.

The pies, valued at £25,000 ($32,000), belonged to Tommy Banks, owner of two Michelin-starred restaurants.

The van, loaded with steak and ale pies and turkey and butternut squash pies, was en route to a York Christmas market when it was stolen.

The theft sparked a social media campaign earlier this week, with Banks urging followers to help locate the missing pies.

“Thieves! Keep your eyes on the Pies!!” Banks posted on X before the van’s recovery. “Help find the pies. Let’s try and recover them and feed some people.”

Banks also appealed to the thieves to return the pies to a community center to prevent waste.

While recovered, the pies were too damaged for consumption or sale, Banks reported. Although the van was insured, he expressed disappointment over the loss.

“It’s just so much waste. It’s just rubbish,” Banks stated in an Instagram video. “Sorry, it’s not a happier ending to this story.”

This incident follows other unusual food thefts in the UK this year. In October, thieves posing as wholesalers stole a large quantity of English cheddar cheese.

This cheese theft, valued at approximately $390,000, prompted a public appeal to watch out for “clothbound Cheddars in a [22-pound] or [52-pound] format with the tags detached.”

The Associated Press and Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.