Inspectors in the northern city of Tianjin discovered Japanese soy sauce contained arsenic levels five times higher than allowable limits, China's product safety watchdog said in an announcement posted on its website.

A brand of imported Japanese coffee, meanwhile, was found to contain twice the allowable limit of copper, the brief statement by the General Administration for Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine said.

The two Asian giants, which do a brisk trade in food products, have swapped accusations of tainted food since the revelation in September of widespread contamination of China's milk supply with the industrial chemical melamine.

That scandal, the latest in a series to tarnish the image of Chinese goods, has been blamed for killing four children and sickening more than 50,000.

Japan last month ordered retailers to pull imported Chinese green beans off shelves after a woman fell ill from eating a product which contained 34,500 times the legal limit of pesticide. Two more people later also complained of illness.

The Chinese manufacturer, Yantai Beihai Foodstuff of eastern China's Shandong province, has denied responsibility.

Last week, Guangdong inspection and quarantine officials said they had found imported Japanese soy sauce and mustard sauce that had been tainted with toluene and ethyl acetate.

Separately, 10 people were hospitalised, including a girl who fell into a coma before recovering, after eating Chinese frozen dumplings in December and January.

Japan imports 60 percent of its food, the highest rate among rich nations, with China the top supplier after the United States.

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