BERRIEN SPRINGS — Schools across the country are scrambling to check their supplies after the largest beef recall in U.S. history, and at least one local district has made a disturbing discovery.

That recall was triggered by undercover video shot by the U.S. Humane Society that shows workers at the Westland/Hallmark meat packing plant in Southern California prodding and shocking sick cows to get them to stand up and pass inspection.

The USDA has classified the recall as a "Class II" or intermediate level recall, where "there is a remote probability of adverse health consequences from the use of the product."

The USDA does not classify the recall as a health hazard.

Even so, it now appears some of that beef made its way to local schools.

Berrien County Intermediate School District has already found hundreds of pounds of that meat in its freezers, and other districts are checking their supplies to see if their supplies might contain the tainted meat too. At least 4 other Michigan districts, including Grand Rapids Public Schools, have reportedly also found it.

The USDA recalled 143 million pounds of beef, in ground, hamburger patty, and other forms after that undercover video left doubts about whether the cattle being led to slaughter were infected with e-coli or mad cow disease.

Some of that beef was shipped to fast food chains, but an estimated 37 million pounds went to school lunch programs, including some that may have made its way into the freezers that provide lunch to thousands of students across Berrien County.

"We did a search in house, looked at what we had, and determined some [beef] had not come from this slaughterhouse, some had," said Berrien County Intermediate School District Business and Finance Director Gus Damaske.

Some parents say that has them worried.

"I'm pretty concerned," said Gwen Parker, who has two school aged children. "That's not the news a parent wants to hear."

"I'm nervous, yeah," agreed Jodi Haygood, who also has two kids in school in Berrien Springs. "I'm glad we do a lot of cold lunch, I guess!"

But her fifth grade son Caleb does eat hot lunch once at week at Sylvester Elementary School. The problem is, school officials don't know exactly which schools received boxes of the potentially tainted meat. All they've tracked down so far is that the beef was supplied by Grand Rapids based Gordon Food Service to a local vendor, who then supplied it to the school district.

That's why they've separated all meat from the Westland/Hallmark plan inside a district warehouse until they can determine what to do with it.

Because the recall covers beef processed at that plant up to two years ago, that might not be all of it.

When asked if there's a chance some students had already eaten the recalled beef, Damaske said "I suppose there's a chance. We don't know that. But we have not had any reports of illness or sickness from our students that might have consumed some of that."

Caleb says he and his classmates have felt fine, and, for that matter, there have been no reports of sickness nationwide associated with the recalled meat.

Some parents say, they're still keeping an extra eye out, just in case.

"If anything, this makes me more aware of, are our children really getting good lunches?" said Parker.

It's a question Haygood says she'll be asking, too.

"As parents, we need to take our own precautions to protect our children," she said.

Still, both women agreed, they're happy their schools have been proactive in addressing the problem before it gets any worse. But they say they, and other parents will be pressing the district for more answers.

Damaske says the district has already purchased some replacement beef from another vendor, and says it will be up to administrators at individual schools to contact parents now regarding the situation at their location.

Meanwhile, parents outside Berrien County are asking questions, too, and unfortunately, they haven't gotten complete answers yet either. The USDA says schools in both Michigan and Indiana likely have, or had some of the recalled meat, but they have not released a final list of exactly which schools that list might include.

Both Indiana and Michigan's Departments of Education are also investigating.

Schools aren't the only ones taking a closer look at their pantries, either.

Workers at South Bend's Hope Rescue Mission found nearly 700 pounds of the recalled ground beef in their freezers Monday. That's more than half of their inventory for the next few months.

Most of the meat came from the Northern Indiana Food Bank, and that's left several local agencies scrambling to find a new supply.

"If anyone wants to bring donations of additional ground beef, because it's going to make a big hit to our inventory, feel free to bring it in," said the Rescue Mission's Operations Director Karl Nichols. "Pre-packaged frozen ground beef would be great."

The Rescue Mission says no one at their shelter has reported getting sick from eating the beef either, and they are now awaiting instructions from the USDA on how to properly dispose of the potentially tainted meat.