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The Tianyang Food Plant headquarters in Hebei. (Mainichi)

BEIJING -- China's food safety record took another hit, after a worker at a state-run steelmaker in Hebei suffered food poisoning caused by locally produced dumplings, which had been recalled following the outbreak of food poisoning in Japan and resold, sources close to the case said.

The local authorities instructed state-run firms in Hebei to buy gyoza dumplings produced and later recalled by Tianyang Food Plant in order to bail out the firm, now in crisis following the food safety scandal.

The Japanese government has asked the Chinese government for details about the incident, but Beijing has so far refused, pending a full investigation.

About 150,000 packets of gyoza dumplings produced by Tianyang Food Plant -- which were recalled after their pesticide-tainted gyoza caused food poisoning in Japan -- were sold to state-owned companies in Hebei Province between April and June last year, according to the sources.

One of the companies, Tangshan Iron and Steel Co., gave out tens of thousands of packages to employees, who -- apparently due to scant media coverage on the story in China -- ate the dumplings unaware of the health risks.

It was earlier learned that four employees of another steelmaker suffered food poisoning in June last year after eating frozen gyoza produced by Tianyang.