Japan says no word from China on dumpling poisoning

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Foreign Ministry denied on Saturday media reports that Beijing had for the first time acknowledged that pesticide-laced dumplings -- at the heart of a bilateral row -- had probably been contaminated in China.

Japanese media, including NHK public television, said China had told Japan an individual working with the factory that produced the poisoned dumplings was probably to blame for causing food poisoning in China in June.

The daily Yomiuri Shimbun evening edition said Beijing was also looking into the possibility that the exported dumplings, which had caused 10 Japanese to become sick in December and January, had also been contaminated in China.

Japan and China have long been at odds over where the dumplings were contaminated, with both denying sabotage in their countries.

The media reports said the individual had contaminated the dumplings "for personal reasons".

"The Japanese government has not received such information from the Chinese government," the ministry said in a faxed statement.

Foreign Ministry officials could not be reached for comment.

The poisoning case has long been a headache for Japan's unpopular Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, who came under fire for taking too long to alert the public after the first consumer fell ill in late December.