Originally Posted by
MinnMan
It's not so simple. The vitamin B12 (cobolamin) in vitamin supplements (as well as in fortified foods) is not synthesized from inorganic reagents. Rather, it generally comes from various sources, including potentially animal products. Consequently, not all vitamin supplements are necessarily vegan. However, "vegan" vitamins (and many others) typically get their B12 from nutritional yeast. As yeast belongs to the Fungus kingdom, rather than Animal, I believe that vegans have decided that it is OK.
In order for nutritional yeast to have vitamin B12 it has to fortified with artificial vitamin B12.... personally I prefer getting my daily dose of B12 from foods such as meat, kefir, yogurt, eggs and milk.