Phenylalanine derives its vegan and vegetarian status from amino acid.
| Vegan? Maybe | Vegetarian? Maybe |
Classifications are made based on the available commercial supply of the ingredient, and are made based on the criteria on our classifications page.
Commercially available phenylalanine may be vegan depending on the source and may be vegetarian depending on the source.
Phenylalanine is an essential amino acid. It is found in eggs, chicken, liver, beef, milk, and soybeans. Although the vast majority of commercial phenylalanine is produced from genetically modified bacteria, I was unable to find any definitive source showing that all commercial phenylalanine is produced like this.