The decision, revealed to The Straits Times this week, is a relief for the growing number of shoppers who are opting for the fish, which is much cheaper than staples like cod and saba.

Concerns about catfish - also known as pangas or sutchi - were raised in January when an e-mail began making the rounds claiming that they were laced with poisons.

The message said the fish were farmed in the heavily polluted Mekong River and had also been injected with hormones made from urine.

The AVA has received about 100 calls from concerned consumers since the e-mail first surfaced. Most were from anxious parents who fed the fish to their children.

But tests revealed the fish was clean, according to AVA officials.

Read the full report in Friday's edition of The Straits Times.