Bullshit Called On 'Boutique' Farmed Salmon from the Faroes - Rick Stein Deletes "Boutique" & "Truly Stunning" Claims from Web-Site!

Rick Stein drops "boutique" & "truly stunning" claims from his online shop selling farmed salmon from the Faroes after media coverage @BBCNews @MailOnline https://t.co/wVPYH3mUZR @RickSteinRest @Rick_Stein @SevernWye @julesspaceman @ASC_aqua @TSCornwall @seashepherd_uk pic.twitter.com/RmTbF7cBSk
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) April 16, 2021

Claims by Rick Stein that his online shop is sourcing from "boutique" salmon farm in the Faroes simply do not wash. In fact, overnight Rick Stein has deleted reference to "boutique" salmon farms from his online shop.

Celebrity chef Rick Stein - who admitted last week that he staved off bankruptcy via online sales including his bogus salmon - faced questions when he described the Faroese salmon as "boutique" amidst media coverage via BBC News and Mail Online/Daily Mail.

The walls of the farm are bedecked with fresh flowers and chintzy curtains. If you peer closely into the churning mass of trapped fish you will see some of them sipping tea from china cups. So the short answer: total bullshit!!
— Jon Nettlefold 🌸 (@jonnettlefold) April 16, 2021

Historically the Wye and the Severn were great salmon rivers, but that was quite a long time ago. It is a season’s work to catch one nowadays.
The Faroe Isles are a fairly controversial place to do, business with in it’s own right.
— Bruce 🏴‍☠️ 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 💙 💉🦠 (@BruceSCrawford) April 15, 2021

Does the use of the word "boutique" break any marketing and advertising laws?

What is a boutique salmon farm? Is that word normally allowed by trading standards to describe any farm?
— The White House (@Whitehousestrom) April 11, 2021

🙄😡
'Boutique comes from a French word of the same spelling, which means any small shop. The word has its roots in the Greek word apotheke, meaning "a warehouse."'
— Black Joan (@sunpath2) April 9, 2021

Good question - I think "boutique" salmon means that Rick goes shopping for his pharmed salmon at an organic, natural & "free-range" farm in the Faroes. "The quality of these beautiful fish is close to wild salmon" https://t.co/7iASW5Iqac #Bollocks #Scam pic.twitter.com/1U0Df3Tox3
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) April 9, 2021

Here's Rick Stein's exact words on the corrected version of his web-site (as it appeared yesterday on 15 April 2021) following Scottish Salmon Watch's complaint to Trading Standards.

Surely this is a breach of Trading Standards by Rick Stein? @TSCornwall @GlosTSS @RickSteinRest @Rick_Stein @SevernWye
These products are sourced from salmon farms not wild salmon as strongly suggested by the reference to the Severn & Wye rivers! https://t.co/LKz6WMj6xH https://t.co/viuOHBXrWC
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) March 25, 2021

BBC News reported yesterday lunchtime (15 April 2021):

When Mail Online reported late last night (15 April 2021), the word "boutique" was still being used.

Earlier this morning, Cornwall Live also reported on Stein's slippery marketing reporting that "boutique" was now used to describe the Faroese farmed salmon:

Celebrated chef Rick Stein's online shop has come under fire for claims it misled customers by advertising that its salmon was caught in England - when it was actually from Faroe Islands @CornwallLive @TSCornwall @RickSteinRest @Rick_Stein @SevernWye https://t.co/kMMOgoTq7V
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) April 16, 2021

Today, however, the word "boutique" has been deleted as well as "truly stunning" in reference to the Faroe Islands (scene of the bloody slaughtered of whales every year).

Here's how Rick Stein marketed his farmed salmon on 25 March 2021 when Scottish Salmon Watch filed a complaint with Trading Standards and raising the matter directly with Rick Stein.

Prince Philip clearly knew the inside story on Stein. The Independent reported in 2015:

You've got to love Prince Philip's honesty: "No, I would probably end up spitting it out over everybody" (Prince Philip declines the offer of some fish from Rick Stein's seafood deli in 2000) @RickSteinRest @Rick_Stein https://t.co/JRScvDRuyd @Independent @HRH_PrincePhil
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) April 9, 2021

Scottish Salmon Watch reported (25 March 2021):

Is Rick Stein misleading shoppers by advertising his salmon as smoked "on the edge of the Royal Forest of Dean between two of England's most celebrated salmon rivers" if it comes from farms in Ireland, Scotland, Faroes or Australia? @Rick_Stein @SevernWye https://t.co/LJd5ZpLPA4 pic.twitter.com/4v9t7xJiz7
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) March 25, 2021

Scottish Salmon Watch seriously doubts that Rick Stein is sourcing wild salmon from the River Wye, River Severn or other English rivers. Seafood Source reported in 2015:

The Times reported in 2019:

The Hereford Times reported in 2017:

The Severn & Wye smokery certainly uses farmed salmon from Ireland.

Severn & Wye's web-site cites wild salmon and rivers but seems coy on the provence of their salmon:

You have to delve deeper on their web-site to find specific reference to farmed salmon from Ireland and the Faroe Islands.

The PDF takes you to a flyer advertising "the finest farmed salmon":

Is the Severn & Wye Smokery going to follow @Rick_Stein and drop claims of "boutique" salmon sourced from factory farming in the Faroe Island? @SevernWye https://t.co/xet1HGduti @RickSteinRest @GlosTSS @herefordtimes pic.twitter.com/nzQOUVhMzs
— Don Staniford (@TheGAAIA) April 16, 2021

Scottish Salmon Watch reported (9 April 2021):

Also, what the HELL is a boutique Salmon farm? Do they use designer formaldehyde instead of the normal chemical or something?
— Julian Lane* (@julesspaceman) April 9, 2021

It is believed that VAR salmon is sourced from Hiddenfjord which last year reported reported lice problems.

Read more about Hiddenfjord online here

Last week (9 April 2021) also raised the issue of Faroese farmed salmon with fishmonger the Wright Brothers:

From: Don Staniford <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, Apr 9, 2021 at 9:42 AM
Subject: Misleading advertsing 'free-range' salmon from "whole wild Salmon producer"?
To: <[email protected]uk>, <[email protected]>
Cc: <[email protected]uk>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]uk>, <[email protected]co.uk>, <[email protected]>, <[email protected]co.uk>, <[email protected]co.uk>

Re: https://shop.thewrightbrothers.co.uk/products/var-salmon-side-fillet

"VAR 'free range' Salmon is a farmed fish from a pioneering whole wild Salmon producer off the Faroe Islands. The Faroe Islands VAR Salmon farming process is centred around the welfare of the fish from fish egg to the eventual harvest of the whole salmon, where the fish is farmed in its natural environment without the use of chemicals or antibiotics, making this salmon a premium species. The quality of these beautiful fish is close to wild salmon"

Surely farmed salmon - forced to spend their lives in cramped cages - are by definition not "free range"?

How is VAR salmon farmed by a "pioneering whole wild Salmon producer"?

When your web-site states that it is farmed "without the use of chemicals" is this really true?

Surely the salmon farming company behind VAR 'free-range' salmon uses Hydrogen Peroxide, Emamectin benzoate, Deltamethrin, Azamethiphos, Formaldehyde, disinfectants, colourings, adjuvants or other chemicals in the hatchery and/or sea cage farming process?

Which salmon farming company in the Faroes is your VAR salmon sourced from?

Severn & Wye Smokery have some information via https://severnandwye.co.uk/salmon/

An article published in the Daily Telegraph in 2011 suggests VAR salmon is farmed by HiddenFjord:

Online via https://faroebusinessreport.com/_fbr12/FBR12_4243HIDD.pdf

HiddenFjord's web-site does not currently claim not to use chemicals. It states: "We use no antibiotics or hormones in our farming" (via https://hiddenfjord.com/our-products)

And: "Hiddenfjord salmon contains no antibiotics or hormone" (https://hiddenfjord.com/)

Are you sure that your VAR salmon from the Faroese is not doused in toxic chemicals to combat sea lice and other disease problems?

Does your supplier add colourings to the feed of your "free range" farmed salmon?

Does the feed fed to your "free range" salmon contain cancer-causing chemicals such as dioxins and PCBs or flame retardants such as Ethtoxyquin?

Could you please double-check with your supplier?

Scottish Salmon Watch believes your advertising is misleading to consumers and will be filing a complaint to Trading Standards.

Further information on your "free-range" farmed salmon product would therefore be much appreciated.