In the past few weeks, Farm Rich Products Corporation has recalled millions of pounds of frozen food after 27 people in 15 states were left with E. coli poisoning throughout the country.
According to USA Today, the CDC said 81 percent of the infected patients were under 21 years-of-age.
Ten million pounds of frozen pizza were in question and recalled, although other foods such as mozzarella sticks and quesadilla's were also thought to have been contaminated.
The outbreak has been linked back to a Rich Product's factory in Waycross, Georgia. Products at other factories weren't affected, USA Today reports.
But news hasn't improved, Rich Products recently announced that their frozen food might have been served in schools and could still be in circulation.
The company fears that about 3 million pounds of food is still in the marketplace and around 300,000 pounds of contaminated frozen foods might have ended up in school lunchrooms.
According to Dwight Gram, a spokesman for the company, the main items shipped to schools were pizza dippers and pepperoni pizzatas.
One school in Harford County, Maryland had already served the frozen food products to their students after the recall was made.
However, according to Gram, the products served in schools might be safer than products served in homes. He pointed out that schools are more likely to thoroughly cook their food, therefore killing off the E. coli present.
The strain of E. coli present in the foods is rare and many laboratories cannot identify the strain, according to the CDC. Therefore, many infected people may have not been identified as of yet.
E. coli can have a number of terrible side effects such as diarrhea and kidney damage.
