The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced Thursday that nearly 1.8 million pounds of ready-to-eat turkey recalled this week because of listeria contamination was sent to dozens of schools across the country as part of the USDA's school lunch program. On Sunday, Pilgrim's Pride Corporation recalled 27.4 million pounds of poultry after listeria was detected in the floor drains of its Wampler Foods plant in Franconia, Pennsylvania. Two days later, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced that deli products made at the plant are the likely source for a recent listeria outbreak in the Northeast that has caused 46 illnesses and at least seven deaths.

A spokesperson for the USDA told health officials that no known cases of listeria-related illness have been reported among school children. However, the USDA does not know how much of the products have already been consumed by students and teachers. Schools that received the poultry products were ordered to immediately begin testing their cafeterias for listeria contamination. Plants that make beef and pork products will now also be tested for the bacterium, according to the Agriculture Department.