As if the news of the largest beef recall ever wasn’t enough to make you queasy, it turns out that a huge chunk of the beef went to schools. And some of the meat went to cafeterias in Maryland!

Anne Arundel, Baltimore Co., Carroll, St. Mary’s, Worcester, Wicomico, and Prince George’s -- all school systems that received the recalled beef from Westland/Hallmark Meat Packing Company -- were told to put the meat on administrative hold on Feb. 1 by the Maryland State Department of Education.

It is unknown whether any of that meat made it into school cafeterias.

This month's heads-up from MSDE could not catch the meat that went to Allegany, Prince George’s, St. Mary’s, Montgomery, Worcester, Wicomico, Baltimore County and Baltimore City in 2007. (About 37 million pounds of the 143 million pounds of beef recalled Sunday went to school lunch programs and other federal nutrition programs since October 2006, according to Ron Vogel of the USDA’s Food and Nutrition Service.)

Breathe a little easier, parents, students, and staff. Investigators have found no cases of illness related to the recalled meat, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture spokesman quoted in the article.

Check out MSDE's press release here.