Household Ingredients Compared › Dried seafood and anchovies (Singapore)

Dried seafood and anchovies: what's actually in it?

Dried seafood in Singapore is mostly sold loose or in plain house-brand bags with no ingredient list at all — a bag of dried scallops is, in ingredient terms, dried scallops. The panelled products here are therefore the flavoured and branded exceptions (anchovy snacks, crispy anchovies) plus the plain products where a verifiable list exists. The big honest gap on this page is the loose dried-goods shelf: Laobanniang and the market stalls sell most of this category with no pack list to quote.

This page does not give a health score or a "best" pick. It shows the ingredient list as printed, with the country of manufacture as printed, and flags added sugar, allergens and additives.

The headline, in 30 seconds

Most of this shelf has no list to panel. Laobanniang dried shrimps, cuttlefish, scallops and silver fish are on FairPrice's dried-seafood category page with no ingredient section retrieved — they are inventoried in seen-but-not-verified, not panelled.
The panelled anchovy snacks are seasoned products, not plain dried fish. Camel Anchovies Peanuts adds peanuts, palm oil, chilli oil and salt; EL-Dina Crispy Anchovies Chilli adds onion, garlic, brown sugar, fried onion and dried chilli.
Crystal of the Sea's claim is the cleanest on the page: 100% dried anchovies with no added salt, sugar, MSG or preservatives — but it comes from the brand's social post, not a transcribed pack, so it is flagged.
Dried shrimp and dried scallops are high-protein, high-sodium foods. The USDA generic dried shrimp lists 18 g protein and 970 mg sodium per 30 g serving; dried scallops are about 62% protein by the Hong Kong trade source.
Watch for sulphites and colourings in dried shrimp. The USDA generic list includes salt, FD&C Yellow 6, FD&C Red 40 and sulfur dioxide — none of which appears on the plain scallop list.

At a glance

Product	Pack size (as printed)	First ingredient	Country of manufacture (as printed)	Added sugar?
Camel Anchovies Peanuts 135 g	135g	Peanuts	Singapore	No sugar listed
EL-Dina Crispy Anchovies Chilli	165g	Fresh onion	Malaysia	Yes — brown sugar
Crystal of the Sea Dried White Anchovy	not stated	Dried anchovy (brand-stated)	not stated	No added sugar (brand-stated)
Crystal of the Sea Dried Brown Anchovy (Ikan Bilis)	not stated	Dried anchovy (brand-stated)	not stated	No added sugar (brand-stated)
Dried Shrimp (USDA generic)	not stated	Shrimp	not stated	No sugar listed
Dry Bay Scallops (USDA generic)	not stated	Dry bay scallops	not stated	Yes — 2 g sugars per 112 g (as printed)

Panelled with verbatim lists: 6 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.

Panelled — anchovy snacks and branded dried anchovies

Camel Anchovies Peanuts, 135 g

Pack size: 135g · Made in: Singapore (as printed)

Ingredients (FairPrice Singapore ingredient section): Peanuts, Anchovies (Fish), Palm Oil, Chili Oil, Salt. Contains Peanuts and Fish. Produced in a factory where peanuts, tree nuts, gluten (wheat), egg, crustacean, milk, soybean, fish, mustard and sulphites are also handled.

A snack mix, not plain dried anchovies: peanuts come first, then anchovies, then palm oil, chilli oil and salt. Country of manufacture: Singapore Allergens: peanuts, fish Halal

EL-Dina Crispy Anchovies Chilli

Pack size: 165g · Made in: Malaysia (as printed)

Ingredients (FairPrice Singapore ingredient section): Fresh Onion, Fresh Garlic, Anchovy, Salt, Brown Sugar, Seasonings, Fried Onion, Dried Chili, Palm Oil, Vitamin E. Allergen advice: Contains Anchovy.

A ready-to-eat crispy anchovy snack. Brown sugar is in the list, so this is a sweetened product — the only panelled anchovy product with added sugar. Imported by Ellaziq Pte Ltd, Singapore. Country of manufacture: Malaysia Allergens: anchovy (fish) Added sugar: brown sugar Halal

Crystal of the Sea Dried White Anchovy — brand-stated list, flagged

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

Ingredients (Brand social post (Crystal of the Sea, 6 November 2026)): Dried white anchovy (100% dried anchovies, per brand). Brand states: no added salt, sugar, MSG, or preservatives.

Flag: the "100% anchovies, no added salt/sugar/MSG/preservatives" claim comes from the brand's own social post comparing whitebait and ikan bilis, not from a transcribed SG pack. Whitebait is the smaller, paler white anchovy; the brand describes it as milder, higher in omega-3/DHA. Country of manufacture: not stated Flag: brand social post, pack not transcribed Whitebait — smaller, paler

Crystal of the Sea Dried Brown Anchovy (Ikan Bilis) — brand-stated list, flagged

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

Ingredients (Brand social post (Crystal of the Sea, 6 November 2026)): Dried brown anchovy (100% dried anchovies, per brand). Brand states: no added salt, sugar, MSG, or preservatives.

Flag: same sourcing as the white anchovy above. Ikan bilis is the larger, golden-brown anchovy; the brand describes it as richer in umami and higher in calcium. Country of manufacture: not stated Flag: brand social post, pack not transcribed Ikan bilis — larger, golden brown

Panelled — plain dried seafood (generic lists, flagged non-SG)

Dried Shrimp — USDA generic list, flagged

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

Ingredients (USDA branded-foods data via Prospre (generic dried shrimp)): Shrimp, Salt, Artificial Color FD&C Yellow 6, FD&C Red 40, Sulfur Dioxide.

Flag: this is a USDA generic dried-shrimp list, not a Singapore pack. It is panelled because it is the only verifiable dried-shrimp list retrieved, and it shows what to look for on an SG pack: salt, two artificial colours and sulfur dioxide. An SG pack must be photographed before this is presented as an SG list. Country of manufacture: not stated Flag: USDA generic, not an SG pack Sulphites and colourings

Dry Bay Scallops — USDA generic list, flagged

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

Ingredients (USDA branded-foods data via Prospre (generic dry bay scallops)): Dry Bay Scallops.

Flag: USDA generic, not an SG pack. One ingredient. A Hong Kong dried-seafood trade source states dried scallops are about 61.8% protein. SG dried scallops (Laobanniang, Prestigio Delights) are in seen-but-not-verified until their packs are checked. Country of manufacture: not stated Flag: USDA generic, not an SG pack One ingredient

Seen but not verified — do not panel until checked

Laobanniang Dried Shrimps 500 g, Dried Cuttlefish 250 g, Dried Qing Dao Scallop 300 g, Dried Japan Silver Fish (White Bait) 300 g, Dried Conch Meat (Pieces), Dried Topshell Sliced, Dried Black Beans, Dried Red Skin Peanuts — all listed on FairPrice's dried-food / dried-seafood category pages; no ingredient sections retrieved for any of them.
Prestigio Delights Dried Cuttlefish (Squid) M, Dalian Pearl Dried Scallop (Yuan Bei 350H) — FairPrice-listed; no ingredient sections retrieved.
Kirei Niboshi Dried Japanese Sardines — FairPrice-listed; no ingredient section retrieved.
Green Earth Organic 100% Taiwan Mauxia Shrimp Powder 80 g — FairPrice-listed; no ingredient section retrieved.
Loose dried ikan bilis, dried shrimp and dried scallops from market stalls and Mustafa / wet-market dried-goods stalls — no pack, no list; out of scope for verbatim panelling until a branded pack is photographed.
Daily Foods Dried Scallop & Shrimp in XO Sauce 180 g — a sauced product (edible vegetable oil, dried shrimp, dried scallop, soy protein, soy sauce, salt, sugar…); a New Zealand data entry, SG sale not verified, so not panelled.

Nutrition — what the numbers say

All figures in the sortable table are as sold, per 100 g / 100 ml. Click a column header to sort lowest-to-highest, click again for highest-to-lowest; "not stated" always sorts last, because a missing figure is not zero. Per-serving-only figures are in a separate table below and are never sorted against per-100 figures. No Nutri-Grade applies to these foods as non-drinks, except where a drink Nutri-Grade is officially printed — none is quoted or assigned here.

Salt and sodium: salt = sodium × 2.5. The table shows sodium as printed (in mg) with the salt equivalent in brackets. Where the source prints salt only, sodium is shown as salt ÷ 2.5 and flagged as derived. Sodium is not presented as salt, and salt is not presented as sodium.

Total vs added sugars: most Singapore packs list total sugars, not added sugars. A total-sugars figure is never labelled here as "added sugar". Where a source states an added-sugars figure separately, it is noted. The ingredient list remains the evidence for added sugar (sugar, glucose syrup, invert sugar syrup) versus naturally occurring sugars.

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.

No per-100 g / 100 ml nutrition panel was verified in this pass for any panelled product in this category. The per-serving table below (where one exists) is all that was verified; the rest is in seen-but-not-verified (nutrition).

Per-serving figures only — quoted exactly as printed, not converted

Product	Serving as printed	Energy	Protein	Total fat	Saturated fat	Carbohydrate	Sugars	Sodium (salt equiv.)
Dried Shrimp (USDA generic)	30 g	80 kcal	18 g	1 g	0 g	0 g	0 g	970 mg (salt 2.43 g)
Dry Bay Scallops (USDA generic)	112 g	100 kcal	14 g	0.5 g	0 g	3 g	2 g	150 mg (salt 0.38 g)

These rows are per serving, not per 100 g / 100 ml — do not compare them with the table above.

Observed numbers, no verdict: The two per-serving rows are not comparable with each other (30 g vs 112 g servings) and are not per-100 g figures, so they sit in the per-serving table only. Dried shrimp lists 970 mg sodium in a 30 g serving — the saltiest row in this batch relative to its serving.

Seen but not verified (nutrition): no per-100 g nutrition panel was verified in this pass for any panelled product in this category, and no nutrition panel at all was verified for Camel Anchovies Peanuts, EL-Dina Crispy Anchovies Chilli, or either Crystal of the Sea anchovy. Their ingredient panels are unchanged.

How to read the label — the jargon, in plain English

Ikan bilis: Dried anchovies — the larger, golden-brown brown anchovy used in Singapore cooking (porridge, fried rice, sambal, soup stock).
Whitebait / white anchovy: The smaller, paler white anchovy. Sold as a separate product from ikan bilis; milder in flavour.
Sulfur dioxide / sulphites: A preservative used in some dried seafood (and dried fruit) to keep colour and prevent spoilage. Listed on the generic dried-shrimp list; absent from the plain scallop list.
FD&C Yellow 6 / Red 40: Artificial food colourings. Present on the generic dried-shrimp list — dried shrimp is sometimes coloured to look more orange-red.
Conpoy / dried scallop: Dried scallop adductor muscle, a premium dried seafood used in soups and congee. Sold by size/grade (e.g. Yuan Bei 350H); the grade is a size count, not a different species.
NIBOSHI: Japanese dried sardines, used for stock (dashi). Sold dried, whole, with heads.

What this page is not

Not a health score, and not a "best" pick. Different products in this category 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. The products in seen-but-not-verified are not yet panelled, for the verification reasons given, not hidden.

Sources and method

Checked 12 November 2026 from: FairPrice Singapore ingredient sections (Camel Anchovies Peanuts; EL-Dina Crispy Anchovies Chilli) and FairPrice dried-food / dried-seafood category pages (inventory — Laobanniang, Prestigio Delights, Kirei Niboshi, Green Earth listings); Crystal of the Sea social post dated 6 November 2026 (whitebait vs ikan bilis comparison, brand claims); USDA branded-foods data via Prospre for generic dried shrimp and dry bay scallops (ingredients and per-serving nutrition); Tak Shing Hong dried-seafood trade page (dried scallop protein content, Hong Kong). Cold Storage publishes no ingredient list on any product page. Nutrition figures are quoted per serving exactly as printed and are not converted to per-100 figures; 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.