By Samantha Enslin

Durban - A panel of Islamic jurists will investigate the implications for Muslim consumers of a decision by SAB to use carbon dioxide (CO2) derived from beer production in soft drinks bottled by subsidiary ABI.

This comes after SAB, the local arm of beer giant SABMiller, announced this week that it would invest R100 million in new CO2 capacity due to recent severe shortages of the gas. The facility will start operating in October.

The facility would purify CO2 produced as a by-product of the brewing process and use it to carbonate the Coca-Cola brands ABI manufactures, bottles and distributes, including Coke, Fanta and Sprite.