diff --git a/core/utils/image_utils.py b/core/utils/image_utils.py
index 1a61f7d9..28e4aaed 100644
--- a/core/utils/image_utils.py
+++ b/core/utils/image_utils.py
@@ -109,4 +109,5 @@ def get_text(image_path):
         image = Image.open(image_path).convert('LA')
         row_text = pytesseract.image_to_string(image, lang='eng',
                                                config="-c tessedit_char_whitelist=%s_-." % char_whitelist).strip()
-        return "".join([s for s in row_text.splitlines(True) if s.strip()])
+        text = "".join([s for s in row_text.splitlines(True) if s.strip()])
+        return text.encode(encoding='utf-8', errors='ignore')