The isotonic soft drink is believed to help improve the appetite of the cattle.

It is a twist on the Japanese traditional art of cattle pampering in which cows are fed sake.

Prime steer and lambs raised by the company Bif Dagang get daily massages to reduce stress, padded flooring to protect their knees, three baths a day to cool down and a special diet of softened corn and barley that is easily chewed and digested, the New Straits Times reported.

The method is similar to Japanese rearing of its Wagyu cattle, which produces the prized Kobe beef. But instead of beer or sake to stimulate their appetite, Bif Dagang - an ethnic Malay-owned company - gives its cattle the soft drink to ensure the meat produced is halal, or acceptable under Islamic dietary rules.

'The Japanese feed their top-grade Wagyu cattle with sake, the Japanese rice wine. We give them a soft drink to whet their appetite,' Bif Dagang's managing director Mohamad Rosdi Mustapha was quoted as saying.

Source: Electric New Paper