GOLDSBORO, N.C. -- The U.S. Department of Agriculture issued the largest beef recall ever. It says 143 million pounds of beef from a California meatpacker is unfit for human consumption.

However, North Carolina school children have already consumed a lot of the beef. Since the recall, cafeteria workers have been pulling remaining supplies off shelves.

Most schools were closed Monday for Presidents Day. Michael Long, a father in Wayne County, took his family out to lunch to celebrate the day off. While his young children looked forward to their pizza, Long worried about what they have been eating at school.

“She's been sick a lot this year,” Long said of his stepdaughter in kindergarten. “She's had stomach viruses, vomiting.”

Long doesn't know if his stepdaughter's sicknesses have anything to do with the beef recall, but he can't help but wonder.

Wayne County is just one of 25 school systems across the state that received some of the recalled beef.

“We found out about the recall last week,” explained Ken Derksen, spokesman for Wayne County Schools. “Our cafeteria workers started going through all their supplies and that's when they found a minimal amount of product in the schools."

In Wayne County, workers found more than a 12.6 cases of recalled hotdog chili and 2.5 cases of recalled taco meat. Wake County school officials said they have nearly $100,000 worth of recalled beef in their warehouse.

The recall goes back to February 2006. Health officials and school administrators know over the past two years that children have already eaten a lot of the beef that has just now been recalled.

“Of course there is some concern,” Derksen said. “But health experts have assured us there is a very minimal health risk from these products.”