Japan Tobacco Inc said its subsidiary, JT Foods Co, would recall the frozen dumplings and other food made at the same Chinese factory, as television broadcasters flashed warnings to viewers not to eat the products.

'If anyone has the product, we ask you not to eat it and to send it back to us,' Mutsuo Iwai, Japan Tobacco's executive vice president, told a news conference which some television broadcasters aired live.

A family of five that ate the dumplings was still in hospital, including a five-year-old girl who had at one point been in critical condition, a Health Ministry official said.

China was hit by a series of food safety scares last year, though officials have said they are adopting new technology and tighter laws to try to ensure safe food both at home and in exports.

Police found pesticide in the dumplings though it was not clear whether the dish, popular with children, had been contaminated with the chemicals in China or in Japan, the official said.

'We have sent information to China and we are asking for their cooperation in investigating the situation,' he said.

A spokesman for Japan Tobacco, the world's third-largest cigarette maker, declined to comment on how the recall would impact on its food business, which accounts for only about five per cent of the company's sales.

The former state monoply has been trying to reduce its dependence on domestic tobacco sales and sees its food business as one driver of future growth. -- REUTERS