Results of qualitative and quantitative analyses of microflora of traditionally and vacuum-packed herring a`la Matias are presented. Forty fillet samples of one producer were bought in randomly chosen local shops and tested. It was stated that their microflora depended on sort of packaging. Gram-positive rods: Brevibacterium spp., Gram-negative rods: Pseudomonas spp., and Gram-positive cocci: Micrococcus spp. were dominant in vacuum-packed samples. Microflora of products in traditional packaging was much more varied. Yeast analysis also showed greater diversity within samples packaged in traditional way as they contained Saccharomyces spp., Zygosaccharomyces spp. and Candida spp. Only Candida spp. was found in vacuum-packed samples.