Coeliac Awareness Week 14th - 20th May 2012

It is Coeliac Awareness Week next week from the 14th - 20th May.

It is important that people are made aware of coeliac disease, this way people's lives can be made so much easier - be it in restaurants, cafes, supermarkets etc, places people use in their day to day life without much thought, unless you are coeliac - then these day to day activities can become unnecessarily stressful and unenjoyable.

You can download your gluten free challenge pack at:

http://www.coeliac.org.uk/node/200793

So who's helping you out this year? 

Dr Chris Steel and Phil Vickery are amongst the celebrity and chef supporters, see the above link for some yummy recipes offered by our chef supporters!

Marks and Spencer have a page on their website dedicated to Coeliac Awareness Week and alongside their newly launched gluten free range and new labelling system, they are doing us proud!

See below for more information:

http://health.marksandspencer.com/your-diet-needs/coeliac-awareness

Coeliac disease is not an allergy or intolerance but an auto immune disease, where the body's immune system damages the lining of the small intestine when foods containing gluten are eaten. Coeliac Disease affects around 1 in 10 people in the UK and although there is no cure, a gluten free diet can help to manage symptoms.

Coeliac Awareness Week 2012

This year, the annual Coeliac Awareness Week (14th-20th May), organised by Coeliac UK, is raising awareness of the condition by challenging friends and family to try a gluten free diet, particularly when eating out.

How M&S can help...

Gluten Free Foods

Our specially developed range of gluten free bakery products, Made Without Wheat, is available in most of our stores and includes gluten free bread loaves, rolls, cakes, crumpets and even hot cross buns. The range also includes two fresh sandwiches, Gluten Free British Ham and Salad Sandwich and Gluten Free Cheese Ploughmans. To find out more about the range and to download a list of stores where it’s stocked please click here.

Rather than have a special diet section in store, we’re making it easy for our customers to identify gluten free foods by putting a gluten free logo on the front of pack. Look out for the many new products we’ve recently added, including gluten free crumbed chicken, fish cakes, crisp bakes, soups, sausages and burgers. Products that carry this logo have all been tested to ensure levels of gluten do not exceed 20ppm.

Gluten Free Ordering

You can now choose from a selection of your favourite M&S Made Without Wheat products online and simply collect from your nearest M&S store (not including petrol stations and some smaller Simply Foods stores). Chose from a luxury fruit cake, crumpets, seeded loaf or even chocolate and cherry cake. To browse the range, please click here.

Product lists

We also provide lists of our foods that don’t contain gluten to help our customers find food that’s suitable for their diet. These lists are updated monthly and can be downloaded from our Allergies and Intolerance section.

Allergy Information Box

We use the allergy information box on the back of pack to indicate whether a product or its ingredients contains gluten. This makes deciding whether a food is suitable for your diet easier as you don't have to read through the ingredients list.

M&S Cafes

If you are visiting our M&S cafes and are avoiding gluten, you can chose from a selection of gluten free options including soup with gluten free roll, gluten free muffin or gluten free brownie. Our M&S staff can also provide more information about any of the food served in our cafes.

Ask the Nutritionist

Do you have any queries about a gluten free diet or our products? Then our Nutrition Team is on hand to answer your queries, simply email Nutrition@marksandspencer.com for a personal reply.