diff --git a/config/application.rb b/config/application.rb
index e58c7e8115..d5b30e9930 100644
--- a/config/application.rb
+++ b/config/application.rb
@@ -98,7 +98,8 @@ module Openfoodnetwork
     # The default locale is :en and all translations from config/locales/*.rb,yml are auto loaded.
     # config.i18n.load_path += Dir[Rails.root.join('my', 'locales', '*.{rb,yml}').to_s]
     config.i18n.default_locale = ENV["LOCALE"] || ENV["I18N_LOCALE"] || "en"
-    config.i18n.available_locales = ENV["AVAILABLE_LOCALES"].andand.split(',').andand.map(&:strip) || [config.i18n.default_locale]
+    config.i18n.available_locales = ENV["AVAILABLE_LOCALES"].andand.split(/[\s,]/).andand.map(&:strip) || []
+    config.i18n.available_locales = (config.i18n.available_locales + [config.i18n.default_locale, 'en']).uniq
     I18n.locale = config.i18n.locale = config.i18n.default_locale
 
     # Setting this to true causes a performance regression in Rails 3.2.17