Informed Food Allergy Shopping - Marks & Spencer

Grocery stores can make me so happy and so angry all in the space of minutes. I hate the crowds, and the aggressive trolley shoppers. I hate the ever changing location of foods and I hate how their home brands are slowly taking over everything... But then, I love how you can get everything in one place (almost!), how you can stay for hours reading every label in intricate detail without annoying the shop keeper and how you can ponder, for ages, exactly what you want without anybody making you feel embarrassed and, I do love having a choice of products... The most contradictory thing about all of this is my love for Marks & Spencer's Food and Wine department. They have all of the bad bits in extreme fashion but despite these Marks is still one the best supermarkets I can find. A couple of things that just keep pulling me into Marks & Spencer time and time again:

- Almost anything you buy will taste great.
- Their amazingly pro-active food allergy friendly labeling practice.

When I shop at Marks I know what I'm buying. They label everything they sell be it from the bakery, the fresh foods or even the beverages! Everything gets labelled with food allergy advice stating if it 'contains' or is 'made in a factory that uses' the following food allergens:

- Nuts
- Sesame
- Cow's Milk
- Ewe's Milk
- Goat's Milk
- Buffalo Milk
- Eggs
- Fish
- Shellfish
- Soya
- Wheat
- Rye
- Barley
- Oats
- Gluten
- Phenylalanine
- Salt Substitute Potassium Chloride
- Sulphites
- Celery
- Mustard

But if that wasn't enough pro-active food allergy friendly behaviour from a large multi-national then hold onto your hat because to top it all off Marks and Spencer also offers one of the best things I can imagine as a food allergy sufferer: Lists of all the foods they sell which are:

- Yeast Free (29 pages)
- Dairy Free (17 pages)
- Egg Free (26 pages)
- Gluten Free (currently being updated)
- Nut Free (26 pages) and
- Soya Free (28 pages)

and even a few combined lists:
- Gluten & Dairy Free
- Nut & Sesame Free
- Soya & Dairy Free

These lists can be requested through their Customer Service Team on 0845 302 1234 or you can obtain them through the following link: http://health.marksandspencer.com/our-health-ranges/allergies-and-intolerances
And seriously, what more can you ask for from a grocery store?

Marks & Spencer
15-20 Grafton St
Dublin 2
tel: (01) 679 7855
opening times: mon-wed, fri 09:00-20:00; thurs 09:00-21:00; sat 08:30-20:00; sun 11:00-19:00

Marks Spencer
Jervis Centre (direct entrance to food & wine dept from Upper Liffey St))
24-29 Mary St
Dublin 1
tel:(01) 872 8833
opening times: mon-wed 09:00-19:00; thurs 09:00-21:00; fri 09:00-20:00, sat 08:30-19:00, sun 11:00-19:00

Marks & Spencer
Unit A-B Tallaght Cross
Tallaght
Dublin 24
tel: (01) 452 2908
opening times: mon-wed, sat 09:00-19:00; thurs-fri 09:00-21:00; sun 11:00-18:00

Marks & Spencer
Unit 1-28 Dundrum Town centre
Dundrum
Dublin 14
tel: (01) 299 1300
opening times: mon-wed 09:30-21:00; thurs-fri 09:30-22:00; sat 09:00-19:00; sun 10:00-19:00

Marks & Spencer
Frascati Shopping Centre
Rock Road, Blackrock
Co. Dublin
tel: (01) 205 5110
opening times: mon-wed, sat 08:30-19:00; thurs-fri 08:30-21:00; sun 11:00-18:00

Marks & Spencer
Liffey Valley Centre
Font Hill, Clondalkin
Dublin 22
tel: (01) 616 1800
opening times: mon-tues 09:30-20:00; wed-fri 09:30-21:00; sat 09:00-19:00; sun 11:00-19:00

Marks & Spencer
Unit 182 The Red Mall
The Blanchards Centre, Blanchardtown
Dublin 15
tel: (01) 824 6264
opening times: mon-fri 09:00-21:00; sat 09:00-19:00; sun 11:00-19:00

Marks & Spencer
89 Lower George St
Dun Laoghaire
Co. Dublin
tel: (01) 284 1281
opening times: mon-fri 09:00-20:00; sat 09:00-19:00; sun 11:00-18:00

web: http://www.marksandspencer.com/