The only other factory, in South Sioux City, is still open, but production and hours there have been significantly reduced.

Over the next two months, BPI said it will try to shift consumer sentiment over its product. If it doesn't, the company may have no choice but to permanently close the Iowa, Kansas and Texas plants, administrator Rich Jochum said.

With so many jobs at risk and the future of the family business hanging in the balance, Branstad has pledged to do what he can to help shore up consumer confidence and win back lost business. He plans to push Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, himself a former Iowa governor, to have the U.S. Department of Agriculture again supply all schools with BPI's product. Bowing to pressure from activists, the USDA recently gave individual schools the option to receive ground beef that does not include BPI's lean product.

"I think the USDA got weak-kneed on this," Branstad said.

He also hopes to convince a long list of retailers to reconsider their decisions to remove BPI's product from their coolers and freezers.

"I think they made some hasty decisions based on misinformation and what was happening with some of the other supermarket chains," he said.