Nocardia

Nocardia is a genus of soil-dwelling bacteria in the family Nocardiaceae, Gram-positive aerobes that grow as rods or branching filaments resembling fungal mycelium. A few species cause mastitis in dairy cattle, depressing milk yield and quality on affected farms, while other members of the genus are explored as producers of biosurfactants with potential food and industrial uses. It is not a classic foodborne pathogen, but finding it in dairy environments points to soil or bedding contamination routes that hygiene programs must address. Laboratories identify it by culture and molecular methods, and control follows standard mastitis-prevention and milking-hygiene practice.