read your own posting:
". . .Vegans are recommended to ensure their diet includes foods fortified with vitamin B12. A range of B12 fortified foods are available. These include yeast extracts, Vecon vegetable stock, veggieburger mixes, textured vegetable protein, soya milks, vegetable and sunflower margarines, and breakfast cereals."
and the part for vegetarians you snipped: "Good sources of vitamin B12 for vegetarians are dairy products or free-range eggs. ½ pint of milk (full fat or semi skimmed) contains 1.2 µg. A slice of vegetarian cheddar cheese (40g) contains 0.5 µg. A boiled egg contains 0.7 µg. Fermentation in the manufacture of yoghurt destroys much of the B12 present. Boiling milk can also destroy much of the B12."
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And then there's this bit of information:
". . . The requirement for vitamin B12 is very low. . . The RDA for adults for vitamin B12 is 2.4 micrograms daily (1).
. . .Other sources of vitamin B12 are vitamin B12 fortified soy milk, vitamin B12 fortified meat analogues (food made from wheat gluten or soybeans to resemble meat, poultry, or fish), and vitamin B12 supplements. There are vitamin supplements that do not contain animal products.
. . .We store between 2 and 5 micrograms of vitamin B12 and only excrete a very small fraction of this each day.
http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/b12.htm****
The Daily Recommended Doze of B12 Vitamin
The recommended dozes of vitamin B12 vary: children should consume around 2 micrograms, teenagers should consume 6 micrograms, pregnant women and women who are nursing - 4 micrograms and adults should consume 6 micrograms every day. Consuming these quantities might be very easy when eating animal products (both meat and dairy products), but it might be a real problem for vegetarians.
What Should Vegetarians Do in Order to Avoid a Vitamin B12 Deficiency?
There are various symptoms that vegetarians present and that indicate a vitamin B12 deficiency. Among these, there are: tiredness or head and foot itchiness. The vegetarians need to consume daily 3 micrograms of entrenched aliments, plus a supplement of 10 micrograms (these numbers represent the inferior limit and there is no superior limit regarding the consumption of B12 vitamin, as in case the organism has this vitamin in excessive quantities, it simply eliminates it). These entrenched aliments are best represented by cereals, wheat and soy milk.
http://medicine.science-tips.org/health/vitamins/vitamin-b12-and-the-vegetarian-nutrition.html*********
Besides, while I personally am a vegetarian, I'm not saying that everyone MUST become a vegetarian, BUT - if society as a whole - made meat less the center/focus of their eating habits (which would be healthful) - it could have significant impact in a lot of areas.