The U.K. horse meat scare intensified this week as traces were found in school lunches and horse drugs were found in other beef products.

British health officials announced on Friday that horse meat was identified in cottage pies that were delivered to schools in northern England and hospitals in Northern Ireland, according to The Associated Press.

This lead to a number of schools that took any meals that contained beef off of their menus until the horse meat crisis is at an end.

British health officials also announced on Thursday that the horse drug bute may have entered the food chain in the U.K, according to The New York Times.

Tests were conducted that identified small traces of the painkiller phenylbutazone, also known as bute. The drug is an anti-inflammatory used commonly on lame horses. The drug is used in small doses to help treat people with arthritis, but large doses given to horses can cause a potentially fatal blood disorder where the bone marrow fails to produce enough blood cells,

The recent horse meat scare was started last month with traces of horse DNA were discovered in beef products sold in some of the biggest supermarkets in the U.K. and Ireland.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland first announced on Jan. 15. that nine of the 10 burger samples taken from the four retailers had very low levels of horse DNA.

The blame was placed on a meat processor in Northern Ireland by Ireland's Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney, who said that was where the imported additive came from, according to The Huffington Post.

Coveney stated that the additive was "either falsely labeled, or somebody made a mistake, or somebody was behaving recklessly. That allowed some horsemeat product to come into the system that shouldn't have been here."

With the horse meat scare embroiled in the U.K. there is some concern that it might transfer over to the United States.

However, none of the companies that have been cited in connection with the horse meat distribution export to the U.S., according to ABC News.