Vitamin B12, food by food
Ranking · Vitamin B12
Your body needs it to make red blood cells and keep nerves working.
An adult is advised to get about 2.4 µg a day. ?
How we counted this
Health Canada’s Dietary Reference Intakes, adults 19–30. The word beside each food says how much of that one serving gives.
A milligram (mg) is a thousandth of a gram, and a microgram (µg) a thousandth of a milligram: 1,000 µg make 1 mg.
The plain words beside each food: “a lot” means one serving gives at least 20% of the daily amount, “some” at least 10%, “a little” at least 2%; below that it says “almost none”. Each row prints its percentage of the daily amount, rounded to a whole number, and the word is read from that printed percentage (a row at 9.6% prints 10% and reads “some”). The cut-offs are ours, one set for every page: 20% and 10% are borrowed from the US labelling terms “high” and “good source”, and applied to Health Canada’s daily amount; Health Canada’s own shopper rule says 15%, and we keep one number so a percentage never changes meaning (provisional: they may change in a later method version).
What it does: NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, vitamin B12 fact sheet for health professionals. How much a day: Health Canada, Dietary reference intakes tables: Reference values for vitamins.
Most per serving: Clams, cooked (98.9 µg), then Beef liver, pan-fried and Mussels, cooked.
Listed amounts, not what your body absorbs. Where a human study measured absorption, the food’s page shows it. ?
How we counted this
Listed for 190 of the 198 preparations on this page (150 foods). The other 8 aren’t zero, just not listed: see “Not listed” below.
188 of them are ranked below, by what one serving gives; the other 2 list it but have no serving size on file, so they follow, per 100 g.
The 159 reviewed foods (229 preparations) are counted here, and raw and cooked spinach are two preparations of one food. Each row below is one preparation, and 198 of them are on this page. The other 31 are left out: 19 raw or dry forms of a food ranked as eaten (listed below) and 12 fortified foods. Imported foods are listed separately below, not ranked. Every amount here is copied from the national food databases, as published. A serving’s weight is shown rounded, and the amount is worked from its exact weight, so a row can differ slightly from weight times the per-100 g figure.
- 1
A lot98.9µg98.89 µg / 100 g - 2
A lot83.1µg83.13 µg / 100 g - 3
A lot24µg24 µg / 100 g - 4
A lot20µg16 µg / 100 g - 5
A lot19µg19 µg / 100 g - 6
A lot16.9µg16.85 µg / 100 g - 7A lot10.9µg8.75 µg / 100 g
- 8
A lot10.5µg19.13 µg / 100 g - 9
A lot5.94µg10.8 µg / 100 g - 10
A lot4.92µg8.94 µg / 100 g - 11
A lot3.03µg5.5 µg / 100 g - 12
A lot2.8µg2.8 µg / 100 g - 13
A lot1.86µg1.86 µg / 100 g - 14
A lot1.68µg2.8 µg / 100 g - 15
A lot1.66µg1.66 µg / 100 g - 16
A lot1.56µg1.56 µg / 100 g - 17
A lot1.41µg2.57 µg / 100 g - 18
A lot1.39µg0.53 µg / 100 g - 19A lot1.32µg0.5 µg / 100 g
- 20
A lot1.14µg1.9 µg / 100 g - 21
A lot1.11µg1.11 µg / 100 g - 22
A lot1.05µg1.05 µg / 100 g - 23
A lot0.91µg3.02 µg / 100 g - 24
A lot0.86µg0.75 µg / 100 g - 25
A lot0.84µg0.76 µg / 100 g - 26
A lot0.83µg0.66 µg / 100 g - 27
A lot0.79µg0.79 µg / 100 g - 28
A lot0.74µg2.45 µg / 100 g - 29
A lot0.64µg0.56 µg / 100 g - 30A lot0.64µg1.17 µg / 100 g
- 31
A lot0.56µg0.29 µg / 100 g - 32
A lot0.54µg0.98 µg / 100 g - 33
A lot0.51µg1.69 µg / 100 g - 34
A lot0.5µg1.65 µg / 100 g - 35
Some0.45µg1.5 µg / 100 g - 36
Some0.45µg0.45 µg / 100 g - 37
Some0.43µg0.37 µg / 100 g - 38
Some0.41µg0.39 µg / 100 g - 39Some0.39µg0.2 µg / 100 g
- 40
Some0.34µg0.34 µg / 100 g - 41
Some0.32µg1.06 µg / 100 g - 42
Some0.3µg0.75 µg / 100 g - 43
Some0.23µg0.42 µg / 100 g - 44
A little0.2µg0.37 µg / 100 g - 45
A little0.18µg1.2 µg / 100 g - 46
A little0.18µg0.36 µg / 100 g - 47
A little0.16µg1.09 µg / 100 g - 48
A little0.09µg0.23 µg / 100 g - 49
A little0.07µg0.08 µg / 100 g - 50
A little0.07µg0.22 µg / 100 g - 51
A little0.06µg0.21 µg / 100 g - 52
A little0.05µg0.17 µg / 100 g - 53
Almost none0.03µg0.04 µg / 100 g - 54
Almost none0.03µg0.19 µg / 100 g - 55Almost none0.02µg0.16 µg / 100 g
- 56
Almost none0.02µg0.17 µg / 100 g - 57Almost none0.02µg0.17 µg / 100 g
- 58
Almost none0.02µg0.12 µg / 100 g - 59
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 60
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 61
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 62
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 63
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 64
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 65
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 66
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 67
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 68
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 69
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 70
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 71
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 72
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 73
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 74
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 75
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 76
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 77
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 78Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g
- 79
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 80
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 81
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 82
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 83
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 84
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 85
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 86
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 87
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 88
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 89
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 90
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 91
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 92
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 93
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 94
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 95
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 96Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g
- 97
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 98
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 99
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 100
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 101
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 102
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 103
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 104
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 105
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 106
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 107
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 108
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 109
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 110
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 111
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 112Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g
- 113
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 114
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 115
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 116
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 117
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 118
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 119
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 120
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 121Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g
- 122
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 123
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 124
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 125
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 126
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 127
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 128
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 129
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 130Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g
- 131
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 132
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 133
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 134
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 135
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 136
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 137
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 138
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 139
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 140
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 141
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 142
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 143
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 144
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 145
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 146
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 147
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 148
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 149
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 150
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 151
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 152
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 153
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 154
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 155
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 156
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 157
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 158
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 159
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 160
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 161
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 162
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 163
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 164
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 165
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 166Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g
- 167
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 168
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 169
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 170
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 171
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 172
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 173
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 174
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 175
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 176
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 177
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 178
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 179
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 180Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g
- 181
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 182
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 183Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g
- 184Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g
- 185
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 186
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 187
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g - 188
Almost none0µg0 µg / 100 g
Not ranked in this view
These list Vitamin B12 but have no serving size on file yet.
Not listed
The databases don’t list Vitamin B12 for these foods: left out, not counted as zero.
Not yet reviewed · shown per 100 g, not per serving
Straight from the national databases, not yet checked, so not ranked. The list can include dried foods, spices and fortified products that a review would set aside.
No serving size yet, so shown per 100 g, even under “per serving”.
- Energy drink, shot, sugar free · Canadian Nutrient File 2026380 µgper 100 g
- Beef, New Zealand, imported, variety meats and by-products liver, cooked, boiled · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)96 µgper 100 g
- Lamb, variety meats and by-products, liver, raw · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)90.1 µgper 100 g
- Lamb, variety meats and by-products, liver, cooked, pan-fried · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)85.7 µgper 100 g
- Veal, variety meats and by-products, liver, cooked, braised · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)84.6 µgper 100 g
- Beef, New Zealand, imported, variety meats and by-products, liver, raw · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)84.5 µgper 100 g
- Lamb, variety meats and by-products, kidneys, cooked, braised · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)78.9 µgper 100 g
- Lamb, variety meats and by-products, liver, cooked, braised · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)76.5 µgper 100 g
- Veal, variety meats and by-products, liver, cooked, pan-fried · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)72.5 µgper 100 g
- Moose, liver, braised (Alaska Native) · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)71 µgper 100 g
- Beef, variety meats and by-products, liver, cooked, braised · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)70.6 µgper 100 g
- Veal, variety meats and by-products, liver, raw · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)59.9 µgper 100 g
- Lamb, New Zealand, imported, liver, raw · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)59 µgper 100 g
- Lamb, New Zealand, imported, liver, cooked, soaked and fried · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)57.5 µgper 100 g
- Fish, whitefish, eggs (Alaska Native) · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)56.4 µgper 100 g
- Lamb, New Zealand, imported, kidney, cooked, soaked and fried · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)55.6 µgper 100 g
- Goose, wild (Canada goose), Indigenous, liver, raw · Canadian Nutrient File 202654 µgper 100 g
- Duck, domesticated, liver, raw · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)54 µgper 100 g
- Goose, liver, raw · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)54 µgper 100 g
- Lamb, variety meats and by-products, kidneys, raw · US food database (USDA SR Legacy)52.4 µgper 100 g
Ranked as eaten. Where a food is also listed in a form people eat, these forms are left out: raw meat, poultry, fish and eggs (their cooked forms are ranked), dry grains and legumes, and frozen vegetables before cooking. Raw oysters stay: they have no other form.
Which 19 are left out?
- raw ground beef
- Beef liver, raw
- Beef steak, top loin, raw
- raw chicken breast
- Chicken thigh, raw
- Chicken liver, raw
- Cod, raw
- raw eggs
- dry lentils
- raw mackerel
- dry rolled oats
- dry pasta
- dry whole-wheat pasta
- frozen peas
- Pork chop, raw
- Pork sausage, raw
- dry quinoa
- raw farmed salmon
- Ground turkey, 93% lean, raw
12 fortified foods are left out: makers add vitamins and minerals in amounts that vary by brand, so check the label for vitamin B12: Breakfast cereal · Oat drink, unsweetened, fortified · Soy drink, unsweetened, fortified · Almond drink, unsweetened, fortified · Cakes · Crackers · White bread, toasted · Pies · Cookies · White bread · Flour tortillas · Pasta, cooked
Running low, and too much
Running low
Low B12 can cause tiredness, nerve changes, anemia, a sore tongue and a racing heart, and the signs can take years to appear. It can happen with enough B12 in the diet if absorption fails; older adults, vegetarians and people with stomach or bowel disorders are among those at higher risk.
Too much
No upper level is set: B12 is generally considered safe, even at high doses.
Sources: NIH Office of Dietary Supplements, vitamin B12 fact sheet for health professionals (2025-07-02)