Household Ingredients Compared › Cream Cheese and Cheese Spread (Singapore)

Cream cheese and cheese spread: what's actually in it?

Three different products share this shelf. A cream cheese block is cultured milk and cream, set firm — usually milk, cream, salt, a gum stabiliser and a starter culture, and not much else. A spreadable cream cheese tub is the same idea made softer, often with added water, milk solids and more stabilisers. And a processed cheese spread (triangles, cubes, tubes) is not cream cheese at all: it starts from already-made cheese, rehydrated milk and emulsifying salts, and is built to stay soft and spreadable at fridge temperature. The front of the pack rarely makes the distinction clear; the ingredient list does.

This page covers cream cheese blocks and tubs, flavoured cream cheese, and cheese spreads / triangles / cubes / tubes sold in Singapore. It does not cover sliced cheese, cheddar/hard cheese, or mozzarella — those are separate categories. It does not give a health score or a "best" pick.

The headline, in 30 seconds

The shortest list panelled here is the Philadelphia block (Australia): milk, cream, milk solids, salt, locust bean gum, starter culture. That is the reference point for the whole page.
Spreadable tubs add water and stabilisers. Bega's spreadable tub adds water, milk solids and stabilisers (410, 412, 417) to the block's milk-and-cream base.
Processed spreads are a different product. The Laughing Cow Creamy & Milky starts with rehydrated skimmed milk and milk fat, then cheeses, milk proteins and emulsifying salts (poly-phosphates, calcium phosphates, diphosphates). Kiri lists cheese first, but with milk 32% and cream 27% inside it, plus water, milk proteins and emulsifiers.
Flavoured spreads add sugar. Philadelphia Soft Sweet Chilli Light (UK listing, flagged) lists invert sugar syrup second and sugar again at the end — a flavoured spread is not the plain block with chilli stirred in.
FairPrice publishes ingredient sections for some of these, and none for others. Laughing Cow Creamy & Milky, Kiri Original and Primula Original are panelled from FairPrice Singapore ingredient sections. Philadelphia's FairPrice page lists the block for sale but no ingredient section was retrieved in this pass, so it is panelled from the Australian Open Food Facts list instead, flagged as such.

At a glance

Product	Type	First ingredient	Added sugar?	Pack size (as printed)	Country of manufacture (as printed)
Philadelphia Cream Cheese Block — All Natural, 250g	Block, original	Milk	No sugar listed	250g	Australia
Philadelphia Light Cream Cheese Block	Block, light	Milk	No sugar listed	not stated	Australia
Bega Cream Cheese Block — Original	Block, original	Milk	No sugar listed	not stated	Australia
Bega Cream Cheese Spread — Original	Spreadable tub	Cream cheese (milk, cream…)	No sugar listed	not stated	Australia
The Laughing Cow Cheese Spread — Creamy & Milky	Processed spread, triangles	Rehydrated skimmed milk	No sugar listed	128g / 240g (16 per pack)	not stated
The Laughing Cow Cheese Spread — Light	Processed spread, light	Rehydrated skimmed milk	No sugar listed	267g	not stated
The Laughing Cow Belcube — Plain, Cheddar & Smoked Cheese (mixed pack)	Processed spread, cubes	Rehydrated skimmed milk	No sugar listed	125g	not stated
Kiri Spreadable Creamy Cheese — Original	Processed spread, portions	Cheese (milk 32%, cream 27%)	No sugar listed	108g (6 per pack)	France
Primula Tube Cheese Spreadable — Original	Processed spread, tube	Cheese 54%	No sugar listed	not stated	not stated
Philadelphia Cream Cheese — Soft Sweet Chilli Light, 170g (UK listing)	Flavoured spread, light	Medium fat soft cheese	Yes — invert sugar syrup (2nd), sugar	170g	not stated

Panelled with verbatim lists: 10 products. Seen-but-not-verified: see the list below. No prices are shown: they change weekly and would go stale. This site compares ingredients only.

Cream cheese blocks

Philadelphia Cream Cheese Block — All Natural, 250g

Pack size: 250g · Made in: Australia (as printed)

Ingredients (Open Food Facts, Australian 250g entry — SG pack not transcribed): MILK, CREAM (FROM MILK), MILK SOLIDS, SALT, VEGETABLE GUM (LOCUST BEAN), STARTER CULTURE, PROCESSING AIDS (CONTAIN MILK). CONTAINS MILK.

Sold at FairPrice Singapore (250g, Halal). The Australian list is short: milk and cream first, milk solids, salt, one gum (locust bean, E410) and starter culture. Flag: FairPrice lists the block for sale but no FairPrice ingredient section was retrieved in this pass, so this is panelled as a flagged Australian list — the SG pack still needs a photo. Do not use the US Philadelphia spread list for this block: the US tub is a different product with whey protein concentrate, xanthan and guar gums, sorbic acid and vitamin A palmitate. Block No added sugar listed Origin: Australia

Philadelphia Light Cream Cheese Block

Pack size: not stated · Made in: Australia (as printed)

Ingredients (Open Food Facts, Australian light entry — SG pack not transcribed): milk, cream (from milk), milk solids, salt, vegetable gum (410), starter culture, contains milk solids 30%.

The light block keeps the same short list as the original block, with less fat — the gum is the same locust bean gum (410). Flag: Australian list; no SG pack transcription retrieved, and FairPrice's light-block listing was not separately verified in this pass. Block Light Origin: Australia

Bega Cream Cheese Block — Original

Pack size: not stated · Made in: Australia (as printed)

Ingredients (Australian retail lists agreeing — SG pack not transcribed): Milk, Cream (Milk), Water, Milk Solids, Stabilisers (410, 412), Food Acid (270), Salt, Starter Culture (Milk).

Bega is listed as a FairPrice cheese brand, and the block is the Australian-made counterpart to Philadelphia. Compared with Philadelphia it adds water and a second gum (guar, 412) plus food acid (270, lactic acid). Flag: Australian lists; no SG pack transcription retrieved. A separate Bega specification for its foodservice/Dairy Farmers cream cheese gives a shorter list (pasteurised milk, cream, salt, stabilisers 410/412/415, starter culture, no water) — that is a different Bega line, not this retail block, and the two must not be mixed up. Block No added sugar listed Origin: Australia

Spreadable cream cheese tubs

Bega Cream Cheese Spread — Original

Pack size: not stated · Made in: Australia (as printed)

Ingredients (Australian retail lists — SG pack not transcribed): Cream Cheese (Milk, Cream (Milk), Water, Milk Solids, Salt, Stabilisers (412, 417 and/or 410), Food Acid (270), Starter Culture (Milk)). Made with Australian Milk and Cream.

The spreadable tub is the block made softer: water is in the base, and the stabiliser set widens (guar 412, and/or tara 417, and/or locust bean 410). Flag: Australian list; SG pack not transcribed. Do not confuse it with Bega's processed spreadable cheese (a separate product whose list starts with water and cheese at a minimum 34%, with mineral salts, sugar, flavour and preservatives) — that processed spread is not panelled here. Spreadable tub No added sugar listed Origin: Australia

Processed cheese spreads — triangles, cubes and tubes

The Laughing Cow Cheese Spread — Creamy & Milky

Pack size: 128g / 240g (16 per pack) · Made in: not stated (as printed)

Ingredients (FairPrice Singapore ingredient section): Rehydrated Skimmed Milk, Milk Fat, Cheeses (Milk Salt, Lactic Acid Bacteria, Microbial Rennet), Milk Proteins, Emulsifying Salts: Poly-Phosphates, Calcium Phosphates, Diphosphates, Citric Acid, Salt, Vitamin D

FairPrice's best-known cheese spread. This is a processed spread, not cream cheese: rehydrated skimmed milk and milk fat come first, the cheeses themselves are an ingredient inside it, and emulsifying salts are what keep it soft and spreadable. Vitamin D is added. Sold in triangles (128g and 240g / 16 per pack at FairPrice). Processed spread Triangles Emulsifying salts

The Laughing Cow Cheese Spread — Light

Pack size: 267g · Made in: not stated (as printed)

Ingredients (Open Food Facts, secondary — SG FairPrice list not retrieved): Rehydrated skimmed milk, Cheeses, Milk protein, Lactic concentrate, Emulsifying salts: triphosphates, polyphosphates, Natural flavouring, Butter

The light version drops the milk fat that leads the Creamy & Milky list and leans on milk protein and lactic concentrate instead, with butter at the end. Flag: Open Food Facts secondary entry (267g); FairPrice lists a Light spread, but no FairPrice ingredient section was retrieved for it in this pass, so the SG pack still needs a photo. Do not use the US Light wedges list for this one — the US list is built on cheddar/semisoft/Swiss cheese, whey and milk protein concentrate, a different formulation. Processed spread Light

The Laughing Cow Cheese Snack Belcube — Plain, Cheddar & Smoked Cheese (mixed pack, 125g)

Pack size: 125g · Made in: not stated (as printed)

Ingredients (FairPrice Singapore ingredient section, mixed pack): Rehydrated Skimmed Milk, Cheeses, Butter, Milk Protein, Emulsifying Salts [Sodium Polyphosphate (E452), Sodium Citrates (E331), Natural Flavourings, Salt, Acidity Regulator, [Citric Acid (E330)], Artificial Smoke Flavouring

A mixed cube pack — plain, cheddar and smoked flavours in one box — so the list covers all three, including artificial smoke flavouring for the smoked cubes. Do not read this as the plain-only Belcube list: the plain-only pack is a separate product and its own list was not retrieved (see seen-but-not-verified). Processed spread Cubes Mixed flavours

Kiri Spreadable Creamy Cheese — Original, 108g (6 per pack)

Pack size: 108g (6 per pack) · Made in: France (as printed)

Ingredients (FairPrice Singapore ingredient section): Cheese (Microbial Rennet), of which Milk (32%), Cream (27%), Water, Milk Proteins, Emulsifiers (Sodium, Polyphosphates, Phosphates, Citrates, Salt, Thickener (Carrageenans), Vitamin B2, Vitamin B12

FairPrice, origin France. Cheese is first, but the percentages inside it are stated — milk 32%, cream 27% — then water, milk proteins and a long emulsifier/thickener group (polyphosphates, phosphates, citrates, carrageenans). Vitamins B2 and B12 are listed at the end. Kiri is made by the same group (Bel) as The Laughing Cow, and the construction is the same processed-spread logic. Processed spread Portions Origin: France

Primula Tube Cheese Spreadable — Original

Pack size: not stated · Made in: not stated (as printed)

Ingredients (FairPrice Singapore ingredient section): Cheese (54%) (Cheese (47%) (Milk), Medium Fat Soft Cheese (7%) (Medium Fat Soft Cheese (Milk), Sea Salt), Reconstituted Skimmed Milk Powder (Water, Skimmed Milk Powder), Water, Whey Powder (Milk), Emulsifying Salts (Sodium Phosphate, Polyphosphates, Triphosphates), Modified Maize Starch

The tube spread: cheese is 54% of the product (47% cheese plus 7% medium-fat soft cheese), then reconstituted skimmed milk powder, water and whey powder, with three emulsifying salts and modified maize starch as the thickener. No butter, no cream and no added sugar are listed. Processed spread Tube Cheese 54%

Flavoured cream cheese

Philadelphia Cream Cheese — Soft Sweet Chilli Light, 170g — UK listing, SG availability not verified

Pack size: 170g · Made in: not stated (as printed)

Ingredients (Open Food Facts, UK entry): Medium fat soft CHEESE, invert sugar syrup, chilli peppers (2.5%), pineapple (1%), salt, mango (0.6%), stabilisers (locust bean gum, carrageenan), modified starch, acid (citric acid), spirit vinegar, sugar.

Panelled as a "what a flavoured spread looks like" example, not as an SG shelf claim: invert sugar syrup is the second ingredient and sugar appears again at the end, with chilli at 2.5%, pineapple 1% and mango 0.6%. A flavoured spread's sugar is in the list itself — the plain block has none. Flavoured Added sugar: invert sugar syrup, sugar UK listing only

Seen but not verified — do not panel until checked

Philadelphia Cream Cheese Spread (US tub) and Philadelphia Light / Reduced Fat tubs (US) — US lists retrieved (pasteurised milk and cream, whey protein concentrate, whey, salt, carob bean gum, xanthan gum, guar gum, sorbic acid, vitamin A palmitate, cheese culture), but the US tub is a different formulation from the Australian block sold in Singapore; do not present the US list as the SG tub list. Needs an SG pack check.
Philadelphia flavoured tubs sold in Singapore (Garden Vegetable, Chives, etc.) — no SG verbatim list retrieved in this pass; the US Garden Vegetable list (with onions, carrots, peppers, celery-containing flavour) is a US formulation, not quoted as SG.
The Laughing Cow Cheese Spread — Light, SG pack — FairPrice lists it, but no FairPrice ingredient section was retrieved; the panelled Light list above is an Open Food Facts secondary entry, not an SG pack transcription.
The Laughing Cow Belcube — Plain (plain-only pack) — FairPrice lists a plain Belcube, but the only FairPrice ingredient section retrieved was for the mixed Plain/Cheddar/Smoked pack above; the plain-only list needs its own pack check.
The Laughing Cow Cheese Slices — Toast / Burger (Cheddar) — FairPrice ingredient sections exist (cheeses, water, butter, milk solids, emulsifiers 331/339, salt, citric acid, sorbic acid) but these are processed cheese slices, out of this page's spread scope and in the sliced-cheese category's territory; noted here so they are not mistaken for missing spread rows.
Castello Garlic Whipped Cream Cheese — seen in FairPrice's Castello Christmas Gift Box listing with a partial list (Milk, Cream, Salt, Butter, Parsley, Natural Garlic Flavouring, Horseradish Preparation…); the gift-box listing truncates it, so it is not panelled as a standalone product.
Arla, Emborg, Mainland, President and other cream cheese blocks/tubs — brands present in Singapore dairy aisles, but no SG verbatim list was retrieved for any of them in this pass. Needs pack photos / retailer ingredient sections.
Bega processed spreadable cheese (water-first, cheese minimum 34%, with sugar and preservatives 200/234) — an Australian processed spread, distinct from the Bega cream cheese spread panelled above; SG sale not verified, so not panelled.
Bega Cream Cheese with Vegemite — Australian list retrieved (cream cheese 90%, Vegemite yeast extract 10%), but SG sale not verified; not panelled as an SG product.
Primula flavoured tubes (Chives, Ham) — UK lists retrieved, no SG verbatim list; not panelled as SG products.
House-brand cream cheese, Don Don Donki / Meidi-Ya / Le Petit Depot imported cream cheese, Little Farms and specialty-grocer cream cheese — not inventoried with verified lists in this pass; needs in-store pack checks.
Mini Babybel (Original / Light) — FairPrice ingredient sections exist (Milk 98%, salt, bacterial cultures, microbial enzyme) but Babybel is a small waxed cheese, not a cream cheese or spread; out of scope, noted so it is not mistaken for a missing row.

Nutrition — what the numbers say

All figures in the table are as sold, per 100 g. Sugars here are the milk's own sugars (lactose) unless the ingredient list shows added sugar — only the flavoured Philadelphia row adds sugar. No official Singapore Nutri-Grade (A–D) was found printed on any of these listings in this pass, so none is quoted here; no grade has been assigned.

Salt and sodium: salt = sodium × 2.5. The table shows sodium as printed (in mg) with the salt equivalent in brackets. Sodium is not presented as salt, and salt is not presented as sodium.

Total vs added sugars: Singapore packs list total sugars, not added sugars. A total-sugars figure is never labelled here as "added sugar". The ingredient list remains the evidence for added sugar (invert sugar syrup, sugar) versus naturally occurring sugars (lactose in milk/cream).

Open Food Facts is a community database and is flagged as secondary where used: the pack and the retailer nutrition section take precedence if they disagree. Figures marked "not stated" were not in the source retrieved; they are not estimated, borrowed from another variant, or copied across flavours.

Product	Basis	Energy	Protein	Total fat	Saturated fat	Carbohydrate	Sugars	Sodium (salt equiv.)
Philadelphia Cream Cheese Block — All Natural, 250g	Per 100 g, as sold (Open Food Facts, Australian entry, secondary)	303 kcal (1,267 kJ)	6.6 g	30.1 g	21 g	not stated	not stated	not stated
Philadelphia Light Cream Cheese Block	Per 100 g, as sold (Australian retail nutrition, secondary)	239 kcal (1,000 kJ)	6 g	22 g	15 g	3 g	3 g	380 mg (salt 0.95 g)
Kiri Spreadable Creamy Cheese — Original	Per 100 g, as sold (FairPrice nutrition section)	310 kcal	8 g	29.5 g	20 g	2 g	2 g	580 mg (salt 1.45 g)

Observed numbers, no verdict: Kiri Original lists 310 kcal per 100 g, Philadelphia All Natural block 303 kcal and Philadelphia Light block 239 kcal. Kiri's sodium (580 mg per 100 g) is higher than the Light block's (380 mg). No per-100 g nutrition panel was verified in this pass for the other panelled products, so this section does not compare them on numbers.

Seen but not verified (nutrition): no per-100 g nutrition panel was verified in this pass for Bega Cream Cheese Block — Original, Bega Cream Cheese Spread — Original, The Laughing Cow Cheese Spread — Creamy & Milky, The Laughing Cow Cheese Spread — Light, The Laughing Cow Belcube mixed pack, Primula Tube Cheese Spreadable — Original, and Philadelphia Soft Sweet Chilli Light (UK listing). Their ingredient panels are unchanged; their nutrition figures are not estimated here.

How to read a cream cheese label — the jargon, in plain English

Cream cheese block vs spreadable tub: The block is firm and sliceable; the tub is the same cheese made softer, usually with added water and more stabilisers. The tub is not a different cheese — it is a softer version of it.
Processed cheese spread: Made from already-made cheese plus rehydrated milk, water and emulsifying salts, which melt the cheese into a smooth, stable spread. Triangles, cubes and tubes are almost always processed spreads, not cream cheese.
Emulsifying salts (polyphosphates, citrates, E331, E339, E452): Salts that let cheese, water and fat stay mixed as a smooth spread instead of separating. Their presence is the clearest marker of a processed spread.
Locust bean gum (E410) / guar gum (E412) / carrageenan (E407): Thickeners and stabilisers from plant or seaweed sources. A block typically has one; a spreadable tub or processed spread often has two or three.
Starter culture / lactic acid bacteria: The cultures that ferment the milk and cream and give cream cheese its mild tang. They are not a preservative.
Rehydrated skimmed milk: Skimmed milk powder with water added back. When it leads a spread's list, the product was built from powder and cheese, not from fresh milk and cream alone.

What this page is not

Not a health score, and not a "best" pick. Blocks, tubs and processed spreads are different products, and this page does not rank them.
Not a taste test, and not a price comparison. Prices change weekly; ingredients change less often, but still change.
Not complete. Arla, Emborg, Mainland and President cream cheese, the SG packs of the Philadelphia and Bega blocks, the Light Laughing Cow SG pack and the plain-only Belcube are not yet panelled, for the verification reasons given, not hidden.

Sources and method

Checked 5–6 November 2026 from: FairPrice Singapore ingredient sections (The Laughing Cow Creamy & Milky, Kiri Original, Primula Original, The Laughing Cow Belcube mixed pack, The Laughing Cow slices for scope notes, Babybel for scope notes); FairPrice category/brand listings (Philadelphia block for sale, Bega as a listed cheese brand); Open Food Facts Australian entries (Philadelphia 250g block and Light block, Bega block/spread via Australian retail lists, The Laughing Cow Light, Philadelphia Sweet Chilli Light UK); Australian retail lists (Bega, CalorieCounter AU nutrition for Philadelphia Light). Cold Storage publishes no ingredient list on any product page, so its shelf could not be panelled from its site. Full per-fact source list is in the accompanying research notes. Nutrition section added 5–6 November 2026: figures are standardised to per 100 g where the source gives per-100 figures; per-serving-only figures are labelled as such and are not converted; sugars are total sugars as printed, not added sugars, unless the source states added sugars; salt = sodium × 2.5. Where a full pack list could not be verified, the product is in seen-but-not-verified instead of being panelled.