EatCheck data · By Buse · 22 October 2026

Are energy drinks halal? None of the 444 we hold fail the check

We checked every energy drink in our database against the halal rules: Monster, Red Bull, Celsius, Rockstar, Reign, Prime and ten smaller brands. Not one lists pork, alcohol as an ingredient or anything else that rules it out. 225 pass outright. The other 219 are open questions, and most of those come down to something that has nothing to do with halal.

0
of 444 energy drinks fail our halal check
225
pass outright (51%)
133
of the 219 open ones are labels in a language our checker doesn't read yet

Brand by brand

  • Passes
  • Check the label
  • Doesn't pass
Pass rate
  1. Monster(180)43%
  2. Red Bull(105)54%
  3. Celsius(45)84%
  4. Rockstar(43)40%
  5. Reign(25)16%
  6. Prime(12)42%
  7. Amp(6)83%
  8. Boost(5)100%
  9. Bang(5)40%
  10. Ghost(5)80%
Brands with at least 5 products in our database. There is no red in this chart because nothing failed.
See the numbers
PassesCheck the labelDoesn't passPass rate
Monster78102043%
Red Bull5748054%
Celsius387084%
Rockstar1726040%
Reign421016%
Prime57042%
Amp51083%
Boost500100%
Bang23040%
Ghost41080%

Red Bull passes on 57 of its 105 records and Monster on 78 of 180. Almost all of Red Bull's open records (41 of 48) are labels we cannot read. Monster's open records are more mixed: 56 unreadable labels, 29 with natural flavours and 6 with a red dye. The next chart breaks this down for all brands together.

What keeps the other 219 open

  1. Label in a language we do not read yet133 of 21961%
  2. "Natural flavours" on the label55 of 21925%
  3. Ingredient text missing or misread8 of 2193.7%
  4. Glycerol or a stearate, plant or animal17 of 2197.8%
  5. E120 (carmine), a red dye6 of 2192.7%
Share of the 219 energy drinks we could not give a yes or no.
See the numbers
Open verdictsAll openShare
Label in a language we do not read yet13321961%
"Natural flavours" on the label5521925%
Ingredient text missing or misread82193.7%
Glycerol or a stearate, plant or animal172197.8%
E120 (carmine), a red dye62192.7%

Labels we cannot read (133). These are cans printed in languages our checker does not cover yet. That says nothing about the drink itself, so we leave them open rather than guess.

"Natural flavours" (55). Flavourings are often made with a little alcohol as the carrier. Halal certifiers do not all treat that the same way: some reject any alcohol used as a raw material, others look at the purpose and the amount left in the final product. The label never says which carrier was used. Reign accounts for 18 of these on its own.

Glycerol and stearates (17). Some cans list glycerol, or a glycerol ester used to keep flavour oils mixed in. Glycerol can be made from plant oils or from animal fat, and unless the label says which, it is in the same position as the flavourings.

E120 (6). E120 is carmine, a red colour made from cochineal insects. Most scholars treat insect-derived ingredients as not permissible, while a 2025 review in the journal Halalsphere argues carmine can be acceptable. All 6 labels with it in our records are Monster drinks, mostly red flavours such as Pacific Punch and Ultra Red:

What about taurine?

Taurine comes up in almost every halal question about energy drinks because of its name and a rumour that it comes from bulls. The taurine in energy drinks is made synthetically. Red Bull says so in its own answers, and fact checkers have found nothing to the contrary. It is not one of the reasons any drink on this page is open.

What this means in the shop

For energy drinks, the ingredient list is rarely the problem. If you want to check a can yourself, look at two things: the flavourings line and any red colour listed as E120 or carmine. A halal mark on the can settles both. Every product counted here has its own page, so you can check the exact can you have, starting from Red Bull or the halal soft drinks list.

How we counted

The 444 products are every record in the EatCheck database (from Open Food Facts, ODbL) under the brands shown, with spelling variants grouped (Monster, Monster Energy and Monster Energy Company count as Monster). Each one was run through the same halal check as its own product page on 2026-10-22.

For the open verdicts, the reason shown is the one the product page gives. When a label had more than one open question, we counted the first: an unreadable label before an ingredient question, then E120, then flavourings, then glycerol and stearates.

On taurine, see Red Bull's own answer and the fact checks by Snopes and Full Fact.

Something look wrong? Tell us and we will check the label and correct it. The rules behind every verdict are on How we decide.

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