Twenty-five million pounds of ground beef have been recalled and the Columbus, Neb., plant linked to contamination by E. coli bacteria was shuttered at the insistence of Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman. The government does not have the legal authority to order those actions.

Glickman said the ongoing investigation at the plant and at Hudson's corporate headquarters in Rogers, Ark., revealed the troubling fact that Hudson holds over beef from one day's production to the next. That makes the task of finding out where the chain of contamination stops almost impossible.

Hudson initially recalled 20,000 pounds of beef patties on Aug. 12, but three days later expanded the recall to 1.2 million pounds, covering the production of June 4, June 5 and June 9.