Household Ingredients Compared  ›  Fishballs (Singapore)

Fishballs: what's actually in them?

The short answer is: almost every supermarket fishball starts with surimi, not with a named whole fish on the pack — and then the lists diverge. Some are short (fish meat, starch, salt, flavour enhancer, garlic, sugar). Some are long (surimi plus palm oil, cellulose, soy protein, milk powder, several flavour enhancers and emulsifiers). A few are not surimi-based at all: Haton's Fuzhou ball lists fish meat and chicken meat directly, and MingFa's Fuzhou ball lists fish, pork and cuttlefish.

This page does not give a health score, a ranking, or a “best” pick. It shows the ingredient list as printed, flags added sugar and allergens, and explains the jargon in plain English, so you can compare like with like.

Scope of this page: plain fishballs, fishballs with a filling, and flavoured fishball variants, as separate rows. Fish cakes, fish tofu and other surimi products are not fishballs — they are noted separately at the end and their lists are not merged into fishball rows. Neighbouring balls that are not fishballs (cuttlefish balls, prawn balls, crab balls) are likewise listed separately, not counted as fishballs.

The headline, in 30 seconds

• Surimi is the base of most panelled fishballs, not a flavour. Where a percentage is given, DoDo's standard fish ball is 47% surimi and its crab-flavoured ball is 43% surimi — the rest is water, starch, salt, sugar, flavour enhancers and, in flavoured versions, oil and flavourings.
• The same brand name does not mean the same list. BoBo Fish Ball 500g (chilled) lists “Fish Meat, Modified Starch (E1420, E1422), Salt, Flavour Enhancer (E621), Garlic, Sugar”, while BoBo Fish Ball 250g (Halal) starts with surimi and adds egg white powder and a stabiliser. Check the pack size and variant, not just the brand.
• “Fishball with roe” is not one recipe. FairPrice's own-brand roe ball (Malaysia) is a long list with palm shortening, powdered cellulose, soy protein and milk powder. BoBo's roe ball (Singapore, manufacturer specification) is a different long list with four modified starches, gelatine and colourings. Jing Li Hwa's roe ball is a short list: fresh surimi, fish roe, vegetable, water, soybean oil, starch, flavouring, salt, sodium phosphate, ethyl maltol, natural food grade color.
• Fuzhou means “with a filling”, and the filling changes the allergen picture. Haton's is fish + chicken; MingFa's is fish + pork + cuttlefish. Neither is a plain fishball, and neither should be assumed halal or pork-free — check the pack.
• Sugar appears in nearly every surimi list — for two different reasons. Sugar is used as a cryoprotectant in frozen surimi itself (to protect the fish protein during freezing) and is also added as a seasoning. Its presence alone does not mean a fishball is “sweetened” in the way a flavoured milk is, but it is still listed sugar, and this page flags it as such.
• The biggest gap on this page is DoDo and BoBo's headline chilled range. DoDo Teochew Fishball, DoDo lower-sodium and cooked-chilli balls, BoBo Traditional Yellowtail and BoBo Fuzhou with chicken are all listed at FairPrice, but no verbatim ingredient section was retrieved for them in this pass — so they sit in “seen but not verified” below, not in panels. That is a deliberate gap, not an oversight to paper over: the two brands Singapore shoppers most often buy are the hardest to verify from online ingredient sections alone, and they need a pack check.

At a glance

Prices are deliberately not shown here: they change weekly and would go stale. This site compares ingredients only.

Plain fishballs

Fishballs with a filling

“Fuzhou” on a fishball pack means it has a filling inside — traditionally minced meat — wrapped in fish paste. The filling, not the outer ball, is what most changes the allergen and dietary picture.

Flavoured and fried variants

Mixed pack — read the sub-lists, not the pack name

Nutrition — what the numbers say

Nutrition figures below are a second layer on top of the ingredient panels, checked 5–6 November 2026. Where a pack or retailer gives per-100g figures they are quoted per 100g; no per-serving-only nutrition figure is included on this page. Salt = sodium × 2.5. Sodium is shown as printed, with the salt equivalent in brackets; where a source printed salt only, the sodium figure is salt ÷ 2.5 and is flagged as computed. Sugars figures are total sugars as printed, not added sugars — the ingredient list remains the evidence for added sugar (including sugar used as a surimi cryoprotectant versus sugar added as seasoning). No Nutri-Grade is assigned here and no health verdict is given. All figures below are for the product as sold (frozen/chilled, uncooked), not as cooked or as served in soup.

Observed numbers, no verdict: across the four rows above, total sugars run from 1.0 g per 100g (DoDo plain ball and crab-flavoured ball, export retailer listings) to 5.3 g per 100g (DoDo Vegetable Fish Ball, USDA entry), and sodium from 680 mg per 100g (crab-flavoured ball) to 840 mg per 100g (plain ball). Conflict flagged: an Open Food Facts entry for the DoDo plain ball gives salt 2.0 g and sugars 1.4 g per 100g, versus the export retailer's salt 2.1 g and sugars 1.0 g — the two sources disagree, so neither is presented as settled. Note also that the vegetable ball's 5.3 g sugars figure sits alongside dextrose and added sugar in its ingredient list, while the plain ball's sugar comes from the surimi and added sugar — the sugars column alone does not distinguish those.

Seen but not verified (nutrition) — do not fill from another product: BoBo Fish Ball 500g and 250g, BoBo Fish Ball with Fish Roe 200g, FairPrice Fishball with Roe 500g, Haton Fuzhou Fishball with Chicken Meat 300g, Sakura Premium Fried Fish Ball, DoDo Fried Fish Ball 200g, DoDo Mushroom Seafood Ball 200g, Jing Li Hwa Deluxe Variety Fishball 500g (all six sub-types), Jing Li Hwa / Unico Fish Ball with Fish Roe 500g (single), and MingFa FuZhou Fish Ball 350g. No nutrition panel was retrieved for any of these in this pass — in particular, the FairPrice nutrition sections for the FairPrice-verified ingredient panels were not found, so the FairPrice roe ball, both BoBo plain packs and the Haton Fuzhou ball have ingredient panels but no nutrition rows here.

How to read an ingredient list — the jargon, in plain English

Surimi

Washed, minced fish meat processed into a gel-like paste, usually with sugar and polyphosphates added to protect it during freezing. It is the raw material for most factory fishballs, fish cakes and crab sticks. A list that starts with “surimi” is not telling you which fish — unless the surimi bracket names the fish, as DoDo Premium does (threadfin bream, ribbon fish, leather jacket).

Fish meat vs surimi

“Fish meat” on its own (BoBo 500g, Haton, MingFa) suggests the pack lists the fish directly rather than via a surimi intermediate. That does not prove the fish was never processed as surimi upstream — it is a labelling difference, and this page reports it as printed.

E450, E451, E452 (phosphates / polyphosphates)

Stabilisers that help the fish protein hold water and keep the bouncy, springy texture after freezing and cooking. E450(i) is disodium diphosphate; E451(i) is pentasodium triphosphate; E452(i) is sodium polyphosphate. They appear in surimi itself and again as added emulsifiers/stabilisers in some lists.

E621, E627, E631, E635, E640

Flavour enhancers. E621 is monosodium glutamate (MSG). E627 is disodium guanylate, E631 disodium inosinate, E635 a blend of the two, E640 glycine. “No added MSG” on a pack (Sakura spec) means E621 is not listed — it does not mean no flavour enhancer of any kind, so check the full list.

Modified starch / distarch phosphate / acetylated tapioca starch (E1420, E1422, E1442, E1412, E1450)

Starches chemically treated so they survive freezing, boiling and steamboat cooking without breaking down. They are binders: they help the ball hold together and stay bouncy. More modified starches in a list usually means a more processed, freeze-stable product — not a judgement, just a signal.

Egg white powder / egg albumen powder

Dried egg white, used as a binder and to improve springiness. It is why most surimi fishballs carry an egg allergen even though no egg is visible.

Powdered cellulose

Finely powdered plant fibre, used as a bulking / anti-caking ingredient. It appears in FairPrice's roe ball; it is not fish, and it is not flour.

Ethyl maltol

A flavour enhancer that adds a sweet, caramel-like note. It appears in Jing Li Hwa's roe ball list.

Trehalose (“Terhalose” as printed)

A sugar used as a stabiliser / cryoprotectant in surimi products. FairPrice prints it as “Terhalose” in the Deluxe pack list; this page reproduces that spelling and notes the likely intended word, rather than silently correcting it.

Fuzhou fishball

A fishball with a savoury meat filling inside (chicken in Haton and BoBo, pork in MingFa's version and in traditional Fuzhou recipes). The outer ball and the filling have different ingredients — a single “fishball” list that does not separate them is incomplete for allergy purposes.

Yellowtail / yellowtail fusilier

A fish prized for traditional Teochew fishballs because its flesh gives a naturally bouncy texture. Brand claims about “80% yellowtail” or “100% yellowtail, no flour” (DoDo Signature, Tiong Bahru, FairPrice's Teochew description in guides) are marketing claims, not ingredient lists — this page does not panel a product on a yellowtail claim alone.

Chilled vs frozen

Chilled fishballs (BoBo 500g/250g, Haton's chilled equivalents) are kept at 0–4°C with a short shelf life; frozen balls are kept at −18°C or below. The storage type does not by itself tell you the ingredient list — BoBo's chilled 500g and frozen 200g roe ball have entirely different lists.

Seen but not verified — do not panel until checked

These were found listed for sale/delivery in Singapore in this pass, but no verbatim ingredient list was retrieved from a retailer ingredient section, brand page, or pack source. They are listed here so the gap is visible, not hidden. Reasons are given per entry; “listed at FairPrice” alone is not a verified list.

• BoBo Fuzhou Fish Ball with Chicken Filling 270g — FairPrice + Shopee SG official store; description only (“juicy seasoned chicken filling”), no ingredient list retrieved; FairPrice product page re-opened 5 Nov 2026 and still shows key information only (Halal, HACCP and ISO certified), with no ingredient section.
• BoBo Traditional Yellowtail Fishball 230g — FairPrice listing (origin Singapore, confirmed on the page re-opened 5 Nov 2026); product page retrieved without an ingredient section in this pass. The name suggests yellowtail, but no list was verified. Shopee SG BoBo official store describes it as made with premium yellowtail fish for a naturally sweet flavour and springy texture, chilled 0–4°C, 30-day shelf life — description only, not a list.
• BoBo Chilli Fresh Fish Ball / Chilli Cooked Fish Ball — named in BoBo's catalogue and in steamboat guides; no ingredient list retrieved.
• BoBo Fresh Fish Ball / Cooked White Fish Ball (other packs) — BoBo catalogue names; the two BoBo plain lists panelled above (500g, 250g) cannot be assumed to apply to other packs.
• BoBo Xi Dao Fried Fish Ball / Premium Fried Fish Ball, BoBo Vegetable Ball, BoBo Crab Ball — BoBo catalogue names (Ha Li Fa site); no ingredient lists retrieved. Crab/vegetable balls here are catalogue names only, not panelled lists.
• DoDo Teochew Fishball 240g — FairPrice listing (confirmed still listed at FairPrice in the 5 Nov 2026 re-audit, 240g); no ingredient section retrieved in this pass.
• DoDo Fish Ball (S) — Lower In Sodium 180g — FairPrice listing (Halal); no ingredient section retrieved. “Lower in sodium” is a claim, not a list.
• DoDo Cooked Fish Ball (L) 450g — FairPrice listing; no ingredient section retrieved.
• DoDo Cooked Chilli Fish Ball (L) 450g — FairPrice listing; no ingredient section retrieved.
• DoDo Chilli Fish Ball 200g (uncooked) — FairPrice listing, distinct from the cooked-chilli pack above; no ingredient section retrieved.
• DoDo Premium Fried Saito Fishball 350g — FairPrice listing; no ingredient section retrieved.
• DoDo Fuzhou Fishball 250g / Fuzhou Fish Ball with Sakura Chicken — FairPrice listing + promotional descriptions (“juicy sakura chicken filling”); no full ingredient list retrieved.
• DoDo Fuzhou Ball — Frozen 200g, Halal — Thong Siek's consumer site: “Made with quality fish paste and stuffed with savoury minced meat”; no ingredient list retrieved.
• DoDo Fish Ball with Spicy Crab Flavour Fillings, 200g — Thong Siek's consumer site: “Juicy, Spicy & Savoury… bouncy, smooth fish ball exterior with a rich, savoury [filling]”; no ingredient list retrieved.
• DoDo Imperial Braised Chicken Fuzhou Fish Ball — Shopee SG DoDo Official Store: “juicy chicken filling encased in soft, springy fish paste”; no ingredient list retrieved.
• DoDo Curry Fish Ball — a microwaveable curry-flavoured fish ball sold at 7-Eleven Singapore (new channel for this page: 7-Eleven), described in launch coverage as rich curry flavour with DoDo's signature bounce; no ingredient list retrieved in the 5 Nov 2026 re-audit, so it is not panelled.
• DoDo Signature Fresh Fish Ball / SG60 Yellowtail Jumbo Fish Balls — promotional descriptions only (“80% yellowtail fusilier, no preservatives, no added starch”; SG60 launch: “premium yellowtail fillet, no starch, no preservatives”); no verbatim pack list retrieved. This is the most important unverified item on the page, because it is the product whose marketing claim most differs from a standard surimi list.
• Tasty Bites Cooked Fishball 450g — listed via Sheng Siong on foodpanda Singapore; no ingredient list retrieved.
• Sifu Cheese Fish Ball (Malaysia) — Malaysian manufacturer list exists (fish meat (surimi), sugar, salt, cheese flavour, MSG; fuller distributor list adds cheese powder, corn starch, egg white powder, sesame oil), but no Singapore-facing FairPrice / supermarket / Shopee SG listing was confirmed in this pass, so it is not panelled as a Singapore product.
• OsomeFood OsomeFish Ball (plant-based) — Singapore-made, mycoprotein-based, sold online via the brand's own site; described as free from gluten, dairy, soy, GMOs, artificial colourings/flavours/preservatives and cholesterol (brand claims). No full verbatim pack list for the ball itself was retrieved (a related fishcake ingredient fragment was found, not the ball list), so it is not panelled. Note: this contains no fish — it is a fishball-shaped alternative, not a fishball by ingredients.
• Donki: Kibun Oden edamame fishball; Fishball Mentai Cheese — Kibun oden set (Donki) contains a small edamame-studded fishball as part of a set, not sold singly as a fishball pack, and no list was retrieved; “Fishball Mentai Cheese” appears only in a 2025 Donki promotion listing, with no list and no current availability confirmed.
• EB Food Cooked / Fried Fish Ball (Malaysia) — Malaysian steamboat brand with cooked and fried fishball products described on its own site; no Singapore-facing supermarket listing or ingredient list confirmed in this pass.
• Giant, Sheng Siong, Cold Storage, Mustafa, Meidi-Ya, Le Petit Depot, Little Farms, RedMart and Lazada — own / distinct ranges — searched in this pass; no distinct fishball ingredient sections beyond the FairPrice / Shopee / Song Fish products panelled above were retrieved. This is a channel gap, not a claim that those stores stock no fishballs: an in-store / pack check is needed, especially for Giant and Sheng Siong chilled ranges and for Cold Storage's chilled fishball bay, which FairPrice category pages do not cover.

Not fishballs — noted separately, not merged

• Fish cakes (flat, sliced, fried or steamed surimi sheets — e.g. DoDo Fish Cake, BoBo Flat Fish Cake, BoBo Xi Dao Handmade Fish Cake, DoDo Tsum Tsum Kamaboko): same surimi family, different shape and usually different lists. Not panelled here; they belong on a fish-cake page.
• Fish tofu / seafood tofu / cheese tofu (e.g. DoDo Hokkaido Milk Cheese Tofu Fish Cake, BoBo Seafood Tofu – Cheese, Haton Fish Tofu with Cheese): tofu-based surimi products, not fishballs, even when sold in ball-like packs or in the same hotpot assortment.
• Cuttlefish balls, prawn balls, crab balls, squid balls (e.g. Seawaves Premium Frozen Cuttlefish Ball / Prawn Ball at FairPrice, BoBo Cuttlefish / Prawn Ball catalogue names): balls whose defining ingredient is not fish. The cuttlefish and shrimp balls inside Jing Li Hwa's Deluxe pack are the exception noted inside that panel, because they are sold inside a fishball variety pack.
• Fish dumplings, fish rolls, fish noodles: fish-paste products in dumpling / roll / noodle form, not balls.
• Chicken / meat balls with cheese (e.g. BoBo Chicken Cheese Meat Ball): meat balls, not fishballs, even when sold by a fishball brand.
• Fish ball crackers / snacks (e.g. SnackFirst Fish Ball Crackers): baked snack crackers flavoured with fish, not fishballs.

What this page is not

• Not a health score, and not medical advice. “Lower in sodium”, “no added MSG”, “no preservatives” and “80% yellowtail” are brands' claims, quoted as such where they appear — they are not verified by this page.
• Not a taste test, and not a price comparison. Prices change weekly; ingredients change less often, but still change.
• Not complete. The DoDo and BoBo chilled headline range, Giant/Sheng Siong/Cold Storage ranges, and all in-store-only packs are not yet panelled, for the verification reasons given above, not hidden. Hawker / wet-market handmade fishballs (e.g. Tiong Bahru, Fishball Story, SanDai) are also out of scope here: they are sold unpackaged by the bowl, with no pack ingredient list to quote — their “100% yellowtail, no flour” descriptions are stall claims, not panelled lists.

Sources and method

Checked 5–6 November 2026 from: NTUC FairPrice product pages (ingredient sections) for FairPrice Fishball with Roe, BoBo Fish Ball 500g, BoBo Fish Ball 250g, Haton Fuzhou Fishball and Jing Li Hwa Deluxe Variety; BoBo / Sakura manufacturer product specifications (2021) for BoBo Fish Ball with Fish Roe and Sakura Premium Fried Fish Ball; Song Fish Singapore product page for MingFa FuZhou Fish Ball; Open Food Facts for DoDo Premium Fish Ball (secondary, US listing); export-retailer listings for Singapore-made DoDo balls (secondary, cross-checked where two retailers agree); Shopee Singapore seller descriptions for Jing Li Hwa single roe packs (secondary). Full per-fact source list, conflicts and gaps are in the accompanying research notes. Where a full pack list could not be verified, the page says so instead of filling the gap. Open Food Facts and export retailers are community / reseller sources: their listings are useful for cross-checking, but the pack and the retailer's ingredient section take precedence if they disagree.

Nutrition addition, 5–6 November 2026: a “Nutrition — what the numbers say” section has been added above, standardised to per 100g/100ml wherever the source gives per-100 figures, with per-serving figures quoted exactly as per serving and flagged, never converted. Sugars are total sugars as printed, not added sugars; sodium is shown as printed with the salt equivalent (salt = sodium × 2.5) in brackets; no Nutri-Grade or health score is assigned. Products whose nutrition could not be verified are listed in the nutrition section's seen-but-not-verified list, not filled from another product.