If you do a search online, taurine should say synthetic or vegan. I am not even sure synthetic taurine would have animal products or not. Typically these companies will do whatever is cheapest. Synthetic Taurine has been around since 1930's.

 Non-synthetic taurine comes from the tissue of dead animals. 

I believe the common energy drinks use synthetic taurine. Some recommend the drink called Guru...

Cheers

drupadmin

"Taurine is non-existent in natural non-animal sources. It is present in minute amounts in milk and eggs." (www.vegetarismus.ch)

• this was a totally random article, I won't take this person's research as hard truth, but at least it is consistent with the other info that says natural taurine is not vegan.

"Taurine occurs naturally in food, especially in seafood and meat..... The Committee is unable to conclude that the safety-in-use of taurine in the concentration range reported for taurine in "energy" drinks has been adequately established." (ec.europa.eu/food)

• hm seems like vegans and non-vegans should all be cautious!

"Taurine occurs in red algae, but not brown or green algae. Taurine has been reported at levels up to 0.046 mc mol/g, wet weight, in a few plant foods (nuts) [Huxtable 1992]. ...Taurine is plentiful in nature, except in the plant kingdom, and is required in the metabolism of all mammals. In humans, the ability to synthesize taurine is apparently limited. Animals that are more herbivorous (e.g., the rat) have a greater ability to synthesize taurine than humans do (they synthesize taurine with three times greater efficiency; see Gaull [1986]). The inefficient status of human synthesis of taurine (compared to more herbivorous animals) suggests a long dependence on a diet that includes taurine, i.e., a diet that includes fauna." (www.beyondveg.com)

• fauna = animal. So again, no natural taurine.

"Vegan Taurine Powder Supplement: This version is completely synthetic and free of animal by-products or testing, making it the ideal source for those who are vegan or on meat-free diets." (www.veganessentials.com)

• aha! so there IS synthetic taurine kicking around... probably very tricky to figure out whether your particular energy drink is using a synthetic taurine or a natural taurine. I agree with drupadmin, the companies are probably using the cheapest form of taurine they can get, which is likely the synthetic stuff. Who knows...