TV CHEF Rick Stein’s online shop has denied fishy business after claims that it misled customers into thinking its salmon were caught in the Wye and Severn, rather than farmed in the Faroe Islands.

Packaging said the smoked salmon came from the Severn & Wye Smokery near Westbury-on-Severn in the Forest of Dean.

And anti-salmon farming campaigner Don Staniford launched a complaint against the celeb chef’s store over the “misleading” description, saying the firm needed to be more “honest” about where their fish were from.

Mr Stein’s website has now changed the packaging to say the fish is from the Faroe Islands 750 miles away, but the business said they “did not attempt to mislead consumers”.

The celebrity chef is no stranger to the Wye Valley, having visited the area for book signings in Ross-on-Wye, Chepstow and Monmouth.

He also starred in a one-man show at the latter’s Savoy Theatre two years ago, and has also appeared at the Abergavenny Food Festival.

Before the packaging amendment - and ignoring the fact that the Wye starts and runs through Wales for many miles, and forms the border from Redbrook to Chepstow - the label read: “Severn & Wye Smokery is situated on the edge of the Royal Forest of Dean between two of England’s most celebrated salmon rivers.

“It is there that they practice the old-fashioned art of smoking only the highest quality fish and meat.”

The BBC reported that Scottish Salmon Watch director Mr Staniford, who recently appeared in Netflix hit Seaspiracy, argued that the original description was ‘misleading’, and retailers needed to be clearer in their labelling of farmed fish products.

“They were implying that these were wild salmon caught in these rivers,” he said. “This is 100 per cent a farmed salmon product”.

Mr Staniford, who lodged a complaint with trading standards in Mr Stein’s home county Cornwall, said that thanks to the alteration, people were now “more knowledgeable about what goes on with smoked salmon”.

A spokeswoman for the chef’s company said the description had been taken from their supplier Severn & Wye Smokery, and it had been changed online and on packaging “without hesitation”.

The description of the salmon no longer mentions the rivers and says the fish are “sourced from two boutique salmon farms” in the Faroe Islands.

Mr Stein’s company explained it had used its supplier’s description on their website and packaging as “we thought it a good and accurate description”, and had changed the wording to “clearly reflect the source of the farmed salmon” before being approached by trading standards.

She said: “A couple of weeks ago it was suggested by a customer that saying that the fish was being smoked in an area near the Severn and Wye rivers could also imply that it came from the rivers.

“I absolutely agree that some people may not be in favour of farmed salmon and so without hesitation we changed the wording to give a better understanding.”

Richard Cook, from Severn & Wye Smokery, explained the original description came from the location of their business between the rivers.

He said: “Historically they were two very important wild salmon rivers and as a result of this the Severn & Wye Smokery was born.”

A Cornwall Council spokesperson said: “Although the salmon is sourced from a number of locations, it is smoked on the premises as stated on the website and this is now more clearly explained.”