Multiple Facebook posts shared repeatedly in Muslim-majority Malaysia claim that Coca-Cola contains alcohol, meaning it is "haram" or forbidden in Islam. But both Coca-Cola and the Malaysian government agency responsible for Islamic affairs have separately said this is false. The posts shared a purported newspaper article screenshot that claimed to show an old recipe for the soft drink, which has not been confirmed by Coca-Cola.

The post was shared here on Facebook on May 6, 2022.

The post's Malaysian-language caption translates to English as: "Alcohol... That's not permissible [in Islam]!!"

The post contains a purported screenshot of a news article with the headline: "After 125 yrs, secret Coke formula is out."

The article's byline is Times News Network, an online news site based in the US.

AFP has not been able to verify where the purported article was published.

The article states that an old recipe for Coca-Cola which included alcohol was revealed by the popular podcast This American Life, following the discovery of a 40-year-old report by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Coca-Cola would not confirm the purported recipe following the claims made by This American Life in February 2011, the Guardian reported.

The newspaper screenshot was shared alongside a similar claim on Facebook here, here and here.

But the claim is false, according to Coca-Cola and Malaysian authorities.

Non-alcoholic drink

A Coca-Cola Malaysia spokesman told AFP that whilst the recipe for...

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