What was claimed
Red Bull and Monster energy drinks contain bull semen.
Our verdict
Incorrect. They contain taurine, which is present in bull semen, but the drinks use synthetically produced taurine.
Red Bull and Monster don’t contain bull semen
5 September 2019
A viral Facebook post that’s been shared over 6,000 times claims that Red Bull and Monster energy drinks contains bull semen.
They do not.
The post highlights an ingredient called taurine in Red Bull’s ingredient list. Taurine is an acid present in all sorts of animals, including humans, and only called taurine (derived from the Greek word for bull) because it was first isolated from ox bile.
Taurine is present in bull semen. However Red Bull says the taurine in their drinks is produced synthetically. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) list Monster energy drink as vegan and we’ve asked Monster to confirm this as well.
This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content—here. For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false as the taurine in the energy drinks doesn’t come from bull semen.