A successful technique for controlling the defect of swelling caused by clostridia in Montasio cheese involves the storage of the cheeses at temperatures below 7 degrees C in the early days after production. In the present work we evaluated the effect of this cold storage on proteolysis and lipolysis during maturation. Cheeses were stored at 5 degrees C for 15, 30 or 60 days for the early stages of ripening, while others were maintained at the traditional seasoning temperature for the entire ripening period. The biochemical phenomena of maturation were retarded by long ripening periods at low temperatures. On the other hand, it was observed that when the low temperature storage period was less than 30 days, the typical organoleptic characteristics of Montasio were not significantly altered
