diff --git a/CHANGELOG b/CHANGELOG
index d75faf62df..3c36c70c5c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG
+++ b/CHANGELOG
@@ -1,3 +1,8 @@
+swift (1.7.2)
+
+    * Fix issue where memcache serialization was not properly loading
+      the config value
+
 swift (1.7.0)
 
     * Use custom encoding for ring data instead of pickle
diff --git a/swift/__init__.py b/swift/__init__.py
index b0bdd0b198..30591a9a56 100644
--- a/swift/__init__.py
+++ b/swift/__init__.py
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ class Version(object):
             return '%s-dev' % (self.canonical_version,)
 
 
-_version = Version('1.7.0', True)
+_version = Version('1.7.2', True)
 __version__ = _version.pretty_version
 __canonical_version__ = _version.canonical_version
 
diff --git a/swift/common/middleware/memcache.py b/swift/common/middleware/memcache.py
index c79ba246f5..13e16d4c68 100644
--- a/swift/common/middleware/memcache.py
+++ b/swift/common/middleware/memcache.py
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ class MemcacheMiddleware(object):
             self.memcache_servers = '127.0.0.1:11211'
         if serialization_format is None:
             serialization_format = 2
+        else:
+            serialization_format = int(serialization_format)
 
         self.memcache = MemcacheRing(
             [s.strip() for s in self.memcache_servers.split(',') if s.strip()],
diff --git a/test/unit/common/middleware/test_memcache.py b/test/unit/common/middleware/test_memcache.py
index e217a96ea7..c3657021f5 100644
--- a/test/unit/common/middleware/test_memcache.py
+++ b/test/unit/common/middleware/test_memcache.py
@@ -48,7 +48,7 @@ class SetConfigParser(object):
             if option == 'memcache_servers':
                 return '1.2.3.4:5'
             elif option == 'memcache_serialization_support':
-                return '2'
+                return '1'
             else:
                 raise NoOptionError(option)
         else:
@@ -104,6 +104,8 @@ class TestCacheMiddleware(unittest.TestCase):
         finally:
             memcache.ConfigParser = orig_parser
         self.assertEquals(app.memcache_servers, '127.0.0.1:11211')
+        self.assertEquals(app.memcache._allow_pickle, False)
+        self.assertEquals(app.memcache._allow_unpickle, False)
 
     def test_conf_from_extra_conf(self):
         orig_parser = memcache.ConfigParser
@@ -113,16 +115,22 @@ class TestCacheMiddleware(unittest.TestCase):
         finally:
             memcache.ConfigParser = orig_parser
         self.assertEquals(app.memcache_servers, '1.2.3.4:5')
+        self.assertEquals(app.memcache._allow_pickle, False)
+        self.assertEquals(app.memcache._allow_unpickle, True)
 
     def test_conf_from_inline_conf(self):
         orig_parser = memcache.ConfigParser
         memcache.ConfigParser = SetConfigParser
         try:
             app = memcache.MemcacheMiddleware(
-                    FakeApp(), {'memcache_servers': '6.7.8.9:10'})
+                    FakeApp(),
+                    {'memcache_servers': '6.7.8.9:10',
+                     'serialization_format': '0'})
         finally:
             memcache.ConfigParser = orig_parser
         self.assertEquals(app.memcache_servers, '6.7.8.9:10')
+        self.assertEquals(app.memcache._allow_pickle, False)
+        self.assertEquals(app.memcache._allow_unpickle, True)
 
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':