**Abstract**

The composition and production technology of the cheese are extremely diverse. There are a wide variety of microbial species on their surface, with a much smaller number inside of the product. The microbiota of the cheese may be composed of beneficial microorganisms, spoilage and foodborne pathogens. Identification and characterization of the microorganisms present in these products are important nutrition, food safety and technological aspects. During our work we evaluated the prevalence of allochthonous bacteria and microscopic fungi in traditionally processed cheeses from northeastern region of Transylvania, with classical microbiological culture methods. Based on the results the microbiota of the analysed cheeses was highly diversified. The identified bacteria with the highest prevalence from different selective media, were as follows: *Escherichia coli*, *Enterococcus durans*, *Enterococcus faecalis*, *Shigella flexnerii*, *Proteus vulgaris*, *Stenotrophomonas maltophilia*, *Staphylococcus equorum subsp. equorum, Staphylococcus equorum subsp. linens, Halomonas alkaliphila, Kocuria rhizophila, Hafnia paralvei, Bacillus licheniformis* and *Klebsiella michiganensis.*

**Keywords:** microbial diversity, traditionally processed cheeses, starter culture, allochthonous bacteria
