Worry-Free Burgers On the Way?

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Shortly after the Hudson Foods E. coli scare sparked a major outbreak of bad-burger paranoia, University of Wisconsin researchers have taken a major step towards the worry-free barbecue. After sifting through E. coli DNA, scientists from the school's Madison campus announced Thursday that they've successfully sequenced and mapped all 4,288 of the organism's genes. Although the decoded strain is different from the deadly E. coli bacterium which caused 25 million pounds of potentially tainted beef to be recalled last month, TIME science correspondent Madeleine Nash says the discovery is nonetheless a major breakthrough. "The fact that this harmless type of E. coli has been decoded is important because it allows scientists to see, through comparison, how the nasty E. coli differs. If this can be figured out, it might be easier to locate the harmful strains in the food supply and perhaps make better antibiotics." Anyone for steak tartare?