Beijing, Feb. 22 - Meat buns found with traces of pesticide in Japan were made by Japanese-owned factories in China, Chinese authorities said Friday as the row between the two nations over food safety rumbled on.
An investigation by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine said the steamed buns were made in two Japanese factories operating in the eastern province of Shandong.
"So far investigations have found that these steamed stuffed buns were produced by two wholly owned Japanese companies," the safety watchdog said in a statement.
"They found pesticide remains not only in the buns, but also in fried pork rolls.
"Both the companies are run in accordance with Japanese standards and under Japanese supervision." The statement added that the pesticide found in the buns made its way into the food "as a result of the process of the purchase of raw materials like vegetables by the Japanese".
It did not specify if the ingredients for the buns were produced in China.
Authorities in Japan said on Tuesday they had detected the pesticide in meat buns imported by an Osaka firm from a producer in Shandong.
The same pesticide, Methamidophos, was also discovered in a separate food poisoning scare in Japan, which has left thousands of people ill after eating dumplings made in China.
It is not known if anyone in Japan had fallen ill as a result of eating the buns, previous reports out of Japan have said.
Steamed buns stuffed with meat, usually pork, are popular snacks across Japan and are often sold at convenience stores.
China's reputation as the world's manufacturing hub has been hit over the past year by a series of safety scares, many of them involving food.
Chinese President Hu Jintao dispatched his top envoy Tang Jiaxuan to Tokyo to address the food safety issue this week, and it is expected to be discussed in diplomatic talks between the two countries in Beijing Friday and Saturday.