Salmon supplier Mowi has been stripped of its royal warrant after 35 years, following allegations of animal abuse at one of its Scottish farms.

The Norwegian-owned company, which had supplied salmon to the royal household since 1989, has been removed from the official list of royal warrant holders.

While the royal household does not comment on reasons for such decisions, the move comes shortly after the release of disturbing footage showing workers beating fish to death at Mowi’s Loch Harport site on the Isle of Skye.

The footage, captured earlier this year by the Green Britain Foundation, led to the Soil Association issuing a critical non-compliance for inhumane killing practices and a major non-compliance for record-keeping failures at the organic-certified site.

Dale Vince, director of the Green Britain Foundation, welcomed the decision and said: “It’s good to see the King, an environmentalist, distancing himself from Mowi. A firm with a history of pollution and animal abuse has no place holding a royal seal of approval.

“This decision places animal welfare and environmental responsibility firmly before corporate PR – we need more organisations to follow King Charles’ lead.”

WildFish, a conservation charity that had previously questioned why Mowi held a royal warrant, also supported the decision.

The charity’s Scotland director Nick Underdown added: “It is a travesty that any salmon farming company was ever granted a royal warrant. Salmon farming is inherently unsustainable and wholly at odds with the values that the King himself has long championed.”

In a statement, Mowi said it was “honoured to have held the royal warrant” but did not comment further on the allegations.

Environmental groups have since renewed calls for households and businesses to remove farmed salmon from their menus in response to concerns over welfare and sustainability.

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