Shops are beefing up security measures to battle the trend of seasonal thieving.
Shoplifting, which is estimated to cost New Zealand retailers hundreds of millions of dollars each year, increases over the festive season as people crowd into shops to do their Christmas shopping.
According to the New Zealand Retailers Association, meat, cheese and chocolate are among the most popular loot.
Christmas shoplifting started to increase from November onwards. Retailers Association northern regional manager Russell Sinclair said stores increased security measures about this time of the year to deal with the problem.
Opportunistic thefts became more common because more people were visiting shops, and staff were often busy attending to customers, he said.