The ratio of newly produced s ¯ ¯ s pairs with the normalized light quark pairs u ¯ ¯ u + d ¯ ¯ d / 2 —the Wroblewski ratio —is considered a measure of efficacy of strangeness production. This ratio more than doubles in heavy ion collisions, providing a model independent confirmation of a new mechanism of strangeness production operating in collisions that are producing QGP.