Q. I am intolerant to gluten how can I find out which M&S products are suitable for my diet?
We provide a range of free from lists which includes gluten. They are available in store, from customer services or can be downloaded from our website by clicking here. They are updated on a monthly basis and list all products which are free from gluten.
Q. I have just brought a Croissant from the M&S instore bakery, how can I find out how many calories it has in it?
A. The full nutrition breakdown is available from our nutritionist or from our customer services team in stores, who will be able to provide nutrition information for our in store bakery products and most of our café products.
Q. I am allergic to nuts and soya and I am also intolerant to dairy products, at the moment I am referring to three free from lists, to make doing my shopping easier is there a way to combine them?
Yes, we can combine up to six free from lists at a time. Please email our Nutritionist or contact customer services who can create a personalised free from list for you.
Q. I have seen the Food Standards Agency TV advert on salt and wondered what Marks and Spencer are doing to reduce the salt in their foods?
A. Salt reduction isn’t new to M&S and we’ve been working to reduce the salt in our foods since 1998. In fact, reducing salt has become a key part in the development of all our foods, without compromising the quality, safety or taste. Over the past 2 years we have removed over 350 tonnes of salt from our foods.
We already achieved many of the Food Standards Agency 2010 salt targets three years ahead of time, including products that previously were regarded as having a high salt content, for example, ready meals, sandwiches, breakfast cereals, past sauces.
There are a number of foods, including ready meals, which we know contribute a significant proportion of salt to the diet, and for these categories we are planning to go beyond the FSA salt targets and meet them as a maximum rather than an average across the range.
Q. Why is salt bad for your health?
A. Salt is made up of sodium and chloride and it is the sodium in salt that is bad for health. Eating too much salt can raise your blood pressure and people with high blood pressure are three times more likely to suffer from heart disease or a stroke. Reducing your salt intake can help to lower blood pressure and when your blood pressure goes down, your risk of developing heart disease or a stroke is also lowered.
The maximum recommended daily intake of salt a day for adults is 6g (about a teaspoon!). The majority of this salt in your diet is already in the foods that you buy. Most people in the UK are eating too much salt.
I regularly buy ready meals from M&S, how do I check the amount of salt in the food?
We provide both the sodium and salt content (“salt equivalent”) within the nutrition panel on the back of packs. We provide this information per 100g and per serving. In addition, the percentage of the Guideline Daily Amount (6g) is also shown to help you see how much of your daily salt intake a serving of the food provides. By comparing products you can find the lower salt option within a range.
All our Count on Us and Eat Well prepared meals meet the Food Standards Agency salt target and in most cases offer the lower salt option.
We have also introduced front of pack colour coded labelling to provide ‘at a glance’ nutrition labelling. Ready meals that are colour coded ‘amber’ and ‘green’ are the lower salt options and for a healthier diet should be the options that you choose most often. Our front of pack labelling also provides information on the % contribution to the Guideline Daily Amounts. | 
