ABSTRACT
Dairy farming occupied a distinct position in agriculture since milk can be harvested every day, providing a regularsource of income to the farmers. Development of the Malaysian dairy farming industry was marred by poor farmhygiene practices, leading to the proliferation of dairy-spoilage bacteria, affecting milk quality. In this study, wereport the isolation and characterization of a rare Corynebacterium species from raw milk after the implementationof improved farm hygiene practices. All milking equipment, farm worker’s hands and the cow’s udders and teatswere washed with detergent and wiped dry with clean towels before milk sample collection. Collected foremilksamples from mastitis-free cows were inoculated onto Petrifilm™ and cultured colonies were plated onto nutrientagar. Biochemical and molecular tests were performed for the identification of peculiar bacterial isolates. A uniqueyellow-pigmented bacteria isolate was recovered from the milk of a healthy cow after the adoption of improvedfarm hygiene practices. Phenotypic and genotypic characterization confirmed the milk isolate as Corynebacteriumlipophiloflavum. This is the first description of C. lipophiloflavum in cow’s milk and could possibly imply theinfluence of bovine flora in dairy contamination. The findings highlight the increasing spectrum of Corynebacteriumspecies with potential adverse impact to the dairy industry. It is recommended to screen for C. lipophiloflavum in allmilk processing facility to ensure that milk is safe for consumption and its products prepared to the highest qualityand safety standards.