TOKYO -- Two employees of a Japanese confectionery company fell sick after eating China-made bean paste in the latest apparent food scare here, police and the firm said Saturday.

The workers at Marusei Honten confectionery in central Nagano prefecture noticed a strange smell like petroleum oil when they opened the five-kilogram (11-pound) package of red-bean paste on Friday, police said.

They tasted it to check on the quality and felt sick soon afterwards, police said.

The employees, a man and a woman in their 30s, complained of numbness in their limbs and were taken to hospital. They were in stable condition, police said.

"Police suspect the food was laced with poison," local police spokesman said.

Japan has recently been hit by food scares over China-made poisoned dumplings and pesticide-laced rice.

Farm minister Seiichi Ota resigned Friday in a spiralling scare over the pesticide-laced imported rice, which was served to hospital patients and schoolchildren instead of being used for non-food products such as glue.

Ten people suffered pesticide poisoning in December and January after eating dumplings imported from China, while thousands more complained about feeling ill.