Household Ingredients Compared › Frozen dim sum (Singapore)

Frozen dim sum: what's actually in it?

Frozen dim sum at FairPrice is dominated by Singapore-made brands (Bee Sim, Golden Chef) and imported frozen dumplings. The useful distinction on this shelf is wrapper vs filling: har gow is a starch wrapper around shrimp; siu mai is a wheat wrapper around pork (or fish); xiao long bao is a wheat wrapper around pork and aspic. Flavour enhancers (E621 and friends) and sesame oil appear in almost every filling.

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

FairPrice publishes ingredient sections for the Singapore brands. Bee Sim Shrimp Har Gow, Golden Chef Xiao Long Bao and Bee Sim Small Pork Pau are all panelled from FairPrice Singapore ingredient sections.
Flavour enhancer E621 (MSG) is in most fillings — Golden Chef's seasoning powder, HK Dim Sum's siu mai, the fish siu mai — but not in Bee Sim's har gow or pork pau lists as retrieved.
Har gow is the simplest list here: shrimp, starch, bamboo shoot, soy sauce, oils, ginger, pepper, salt. No pork, no MSG, no sugar beyond the soy sauce.
Xiao long bao lists are the longest — Golden Chef's runs to a full seasoning powder with flavour enhancers E621, E627, E631, chicken meat and fat, and fully hydrogenated palm fat.
Bee Sim Small Pork Pau is sold chilled, not frozen (4 weeks chilled, 2 months frozen) — it is panelled here because it is the same dim sum range and the same FairPrice ingredient section, and the chill/frozen note is stated on its panel.

At a glance

Product	Pack size (as printed)	First ingredient	Country of manufacture (as printed)	Added sugar?
Bee Sim Shrimp Har Gow	12 pieces	Shrimp	not stated	No sugar listed (soy sauce only)
Golden Chef Xiao Long Bao — Spring Onion	500g	Water	not stated	Yes — sugar
Bee Sim Small Pork Pau	6 pieces	Pork	not stated	Yes — sugar
Prime Food Xiao Long Bao	not stated	Pork	not stated (US listing)	Yes — sugar
HK Dim Sum Pork Siu Mai	420g	Pork (70%)	not stated (UK listing)	Yes — sugar
Fish Siu Mai (HK)	not stated	Fish	not stated (HK listing)	Yes — sugar

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 — FairPrice Singapore ingredient sections

Bee Sim Shrimp Har Gow

Pack size: 12 pieces · Made in: not stated (as printed)

Ingredients (FairPrice Singapore ingredient section): Shrimp, Starch, Bamboo Shoot, Soy Sauce (Soybean, Coloring, Salt, Sugar, Flour, E211), Vegetable Oil, Sesame Oil, Ginger, Pepper, Salt. Contains: Wheat, Shrimp, Soy.

The cleanest dim sum list panelled here. Shrimp first, starch wrapper implied by the starch entry, bamboo shoot for crunch. The soy sauce contributes the only sugar (and the preservative E211, sodium benzoate, inside the soy sauce). Country of manufacture: not stated Allergens: wheat, shrimp, soy No MSG listed

Golden Chef Xiao Long Bao — Spring Onion

Pack size: 500g · Made in: not stated (as printed)

Ingredients (FairPrice Singapore ingredient section): Water, Wheat Flour, Pork, Green Onion, Ginger, Modified Starch (E1412), Sesame Oil (Sesame Oil, Palm Oil), Gelatine (Beef), Sugar, Soy Sauce (Sugar, Water, Soybean, Salt), Fried Shallot, Seasoning Powder {Salt, Maltodextrin (Cornstarch), Flavour Enhancer (E621, E627, E631), Cornstarch, Sugar, Chicken Meat and Fat, Flavouring, Soy Sauce [Soybean, Wheat, Salt, Maltodextrin, Modified Starch (E1440), E621, E917], Fully Hydrogenated Palm Fat and Spice}, Salt, Yeast Extract and Spices.

Water and wheat flour lead — the wrapper is the bulk of the product by weight. The seasoning powder is a list-within-a-list: three flavour enhancers, chicken meat and fat, and fully hydrogenated palm fat. Gelatine (beef) is the aspic that makes the soup inside a xiao long bao. Country of manufacture: not stated Allergens: wheat, soy, sesame (implied) Flavour enhancers: E621, E627, E631

Bee Sim Small Pork Pau — sold chilled (freezable)

Pack size: 6 pieces · Made in: not stated (as printed)

Ingredients (FairPrice Singapore ingredient section): Pork, Flour, Sugar, Turnip, Onion, Sesame Oil, Oyster Sauce (Modified Starch, Salt, Sugar, Seasoning [E621, E631], Coloring, Flavoring, E211, E951), Carrot, Starch, Vegetable Oil, Soy Sauce (Soybean, Coloring, Salt, Sugar, Flour, E211), Salt, Pepper, Ginger, Baking Powder (E500, E541, E341), Yeast. Contains: Wheat, Soy, Shellfish.

Sold chilled (up to 4 weeks chilled, or frozen for up to 2 months) — panelled here with that stated, as it is the same Bee Sim dim sum range. Turnip and carrot are in the filling; the oyster sauce carries the flavour enhancers E621 and E631 and the sweetener E951. Country of manufacture: not stated Allergens: wheat, soy, shellfish Flavour enhancers: E621, E631 (in oyster sauce)

Panelled — imported frozen dumplings (flagged non-SG lists)

Prime Food Xiao Long Bao — US listing, flagged

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

Ingredients (Open Food Facts (US entry)): Pork, Gelatin Sauce (Water, Gelatin, Sugar, Monosodium Glutamate, Salt, Dark Soy Sauce (Soy Sauce, Soybeans, Wheat Flour), Caramel Color, Artificial Mushroom Flavor (Natural Flavoring, Salt, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Guanylate), Dehydrated Onion, Ginger, Sugar, Monosodium Glutamate, Potato Starch, Sesame Oil, White Pepper), Dough: Bleached Wheat Flour, Water, Sugar, Salad Oil (Canola Oil), Salt.

Flag: US Open Food Facts entry; SG sale not verified. Monosodium glutamate appears twice in the list (in the gelatin sauce and again on its own), and the source prints added sugars of 2.78 g per 100 g — the only dim sum row with a printed added-sugars figure. Country of manufacture: not stated Flag: US listing, SG sale not verified MSG listed twice Added sugars: 2.78 g per 100 g (as printed)

HK Dim Sum Pork Siu Mai, 420 g — UK listing, flagged

Pack size: 420g · Made in: not stated (UK listing) (as printed)

Ingredients (Open Food Facts (UK entry)): Pork (70%), Pork fat, Water, Wheat Flour (Wheat Flour, Calcium Carbonate, Iron, Niacin, Thiamin), Vital Wheat Gluten, Shiitake Mushroom, Sugar, Flavour Enhancer: E621, Potato Starch, Wheat Starch, Salt, Sesame Oil, Soy Sauce (Water, Salt, Soyabean (Soya), Wheat Flour, Preservative: E202), Rapeseed Oil, White Pepper, Colour: E102.

Flag: UK Open Food Facts entry; SG sale not verified. Pork is 70% of the product — the highest meat share on this page — with pork fat listed separately. E102 (tartrazine) colours the wrapper yellow. Country of manufacture: not stated Flag: UK listing, SG sale not verified Pork 70% Colour: E102

Fish Siu Mai — Hong Kong listing, flagged

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

Ingredients (Open Food Facts (Hong Kong entry)): Fish, Pork, Tapioca flour, Wheat flour, Sugar, Salt, Halibut, Water, Soybean oil, Pepper powder, Color (E102), Flavour Enhancer (621).

Flag: Hong Kong Open Food Facts entry; SG sale not verified. Fish leads the list (about 51.7% by the source's analysis) with pork second — the only fish-first siu mai on the page. Only the energy figure was retrieved for nutrition (46 kcal per 100 g); the rest is not stated. Country of manufacture: not stated Flag: HK listing, SG sale not verified Fish 51.7% (estimate, per OFF analysis)

Seen but not verified — do not panel until checked

CP frozen dim sum range (siu mai, har gow, xiao long bao and others) — listed at FairPrice; no CP dim sum ingredient section was retrieved in this pass. CP's ready-meal ingredient sections were retrieved for other categories, so this is a retrieval gap, not a CP absence.
Prima Taste, Fortune and other frozen dim sum / pau lines at FairPrice — listed; no ingredient sections retrieved in this pass.
Oriental Fortune Frozen Mantou — panelled under frozen bread and pastry (category 143), not here; it is a steamed bun, not a filled dim sum item.
Din Tai Fung frozen xiao long bao and other restaurant-brand frozen dim sum — SG sale not verified in this pass; no lists retrieved.
Oriental Cuisine (New Zealand) Xiao Long Bao, Beef Siu Mai, Pork Siu Mai — full manufacturer spec sheets exist (ingredients and per-100 g nutrition), but the brand is New Zealand foodservice and SG retail sale was not verified, so they are not panelled as SG products.

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.

Product	Energy	Protein	Total fat	Saturated fat	Carbohydrate	Sugars	Sodium (salt equiv.)
Prime Food Xiao Long Bao	194 kcal	11.1 g	10.2 g	3.7 g	16.7 g	2.78 g	576 mg (salt 1.44 g) — sodium derived from printed salt
HK Dim Sum Pork Siu Mai	252 kcal	13.6 g	18.7 g	6.9 g	not stated	1.9 g	not stated
Fish Siu Mai (HK)	46 kcal	not stated	not stated	not stated	not stated	not stated	not stated

Observed numbers, no verdict: HK Dim Sum Pork Siu Mai lists 252 kcal per 100 g — the highest on this page — with 18.7 g fat, against Prime Food Xiao Long Bao at 194 kcal and 10.2 g fat. Fish Siu Mai's printed energy (46 kcal per 100 g) is far below both, but no other nutrient was retrieved for it, so the figure stands alone and uncorroborated.

Seen but not verified (nutrition): no per-100 g nutrition panel was verified in this pass for Bee Sim Shrimp Har Gow, Golden Chef Xiao Long Bao — Spring Onion, or Bee Sim Small Pork Pau. Their ingredient panels are unchanged. No per-serving nutrition was verified for any panelled product.

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

Har gow: Shrimp dumpling in a translucent starch wrapper (wheat starch and tapioca starch), steamed. The wrapper is the giveaway: no wheat flour dough.
Siu mai: Open-topped steamed dumpling in a thin wheat wrapper, usually pork (or fish) with mushroom and seasoning.
Xiao long bao: Soup dumpling: a wheat wrapper around pork and aspic (gelatine). The aspic melts on steaming and becomes the soup inside.
E621 / E627 / E631: Flavour enhancers: monosodium glutamate (E621), disodium guanylate (E627) and disodium inosinate (E631). Often used together in dim sum fillings.
E102 (tartrazine): A yellow food colouring, used here to colour siu mai wrappers.
E211 / E202: Preservatives: sodium benzoate (E211) and potassium sorbate (E202). On this page they appear inside the soy sauce, not added separately to the dumpling.
Aspic / gelatine: Jellied stock (here beef gelatine) that melts into soup when the dumpling is steamed.

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 (Bee Sim Shrimp Har Gow; Golden Chef Xiao Long Bao — Spring Onion; Bee Sim Small Pork Pau); Open Food Facts US entry for Prime Food Xiao Long Bao (ingredients and per-100 g nutrition, including printed added sugars); Open Food Facts UK entry for HK Dim Sum Pork Siu Mai (ingredients and per-100 g nutrition); Open Food Facts Hong Kong entry for Fish Siu Mai (ingredients and per-100 g energy only). Oriental Cuisine New Zealand spec sheets (Xiao Long Bao, Beef Siu Mai, Pork Siu Mai) were read but not panelled — NZ foodservice, SG retail sale not verified. Cold Storage publishes no ingredient list on any product page. Nutrition 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.