diff --git a/app/serializers/api/product_serializer.rb b/app/serializers/api/product_serializer.rb
index 733904c5b6..9223a797d8 100644
--- a/app/serializers/api/product_serializer.rb
+++ b/app/serializers/api/product_serializer.rb
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ class Api::ProductSerializer < ActiveModel::Serializer
 
   # return an unformatted descripton
   def description
-    strip_tags object.description
+    strip_tags object.description&.strip
   end
 
   # return a sanitized html description