diff --git a/helper/fieldValue.js b/helper/fieldValue.js
index 11ddef2d8..8060fafd4 100644
--- a/helper/fieldValue.js
+++ b/helper/fieldValue.js
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 const _ = require('lodash');
+const htmlSanitize = require('./htmlSanitize');
 
 function getStringValue(property) {
   // numeric value, cast to string
@@ -41,5 +42,5 @@ function getArrayValue(property) {
   return [property];
 }
 
-module.exports.getStringValue = getStringValue;
-module.exports.getArrayValue = getArrayValue;
+module.exports.getStringValue = (property) => htmlSanitize(getStringValue(property));
+module.exports.getArrayValue = (property) => htmlSanitize(getArrayValue(property));
diff --git a/helper/geojsonify.js b/helper/geojsonify.js
index 91165f834..a82fb3926 100644
--- a/helper/geojsonify.js
+++ b/helper/geojsonify.js
@@ -6,6 +6,7 @@ const _ = require('lodash');
 const Document = require('pelias-model').Document;
 const codec = require('pelias-model').codec;
 const field = require('./fieldValue');
+const htmlSanitize = require('./htmlSanitize');
 const decode_gid = require('./decode_gid');
 
 function geojsonifyPlaces( params, docs ){
@@ -42,13 +43,17 @@ function geojsonifyPlaces( params, docs ){
 
 function geojsonifyPlace(params, place) {
   const gid_components = decode_gid(place._id);
+  const source = htmlSanitize(place.source);
+  const source_id = htmlSanitize(gid_components.id);
+  const layer = htmlSanitize(place.layer);
+
   // setup the base doc
   const doc = {
-    id: gid_components.id,
-    gid: new Document(place.source, place.layer, gid_components.id).getGid(),
-    layer: place.layer,
-    source: place.source,
-    source_id: gid_components.id,
+    id: source_id,
+    gid: new Document(source, layer, source_id).getGid(),
+    layer,
+    source,
+    source_id,
     bounding_box: place.bounding_box,
     lat: parseFloat(place.center_point.lat),
     lng: parseFloat(place.center_point.lon),
diff --git a/helper/htmlSanitize.js b/helper/htmlSanitize.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..cc21a3e8d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/helper/htmlSanitize.js
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+const _ = require('lodash');
+const stripHTML = require('string-strip-html').stripHtml;
+const options = { stripTogetherWithTheirContents: ['link', 'script', 'style', 'xml'] };
+
+/**
+ * Sanitize HTML in strings by completely removing 'dangerous' elements
+ * while keeping the inner HTML of non-dangerous elements.
+ *
+ * note: Arrays and Objects of strings are supported but currently
+ * they are not sanitized *recursively*.
+ *
+ * see: https://www.npmjs.com/package/string-strip-html
+ */
+
+function htmlSanitizeValue(value) {
+  if (!_.isString(value)) { return value; }
+  return stripHTML(value, options).result;
+}
+
+function htmlSanitize(data) {
+  if (_.isString(data)) { return htmlSanitizeValue(data); }
+  if (_.isArray(data)) { return _.map(data, htmlSanitizeValue); }
+  if (_.isPlainObject(data)) { return _.mapValues(data, htmlSanitizeValue); }
+  return data;
+}
+
+module.exports = htmlSanitize;
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index a0271e643..1d58678b0 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -64,6 +64,7 @@
     "retry": "^0.12.0",
     "stable": "^0.1.8",
     "stats-lite": "^2.0.4",
+    "string-strip-html": "^8.3.0",
     "through2": "^3.0.0"
   },
   "devDependencies": {
diff --git a/test/unit/helper/geojsonify.js b/test/unit/helper/geojsonify.js
index 1f1523f0e..cf35c84aa 100644
--- a/test/unit/helper/geojsonify.js
+++ b/test/unit/helper/geojsonify.js
@@ -768,6 +768,49 @@ module.exports.tests.addendum = function(test, common) {
   });
 };
 
+// strip HTML entities from the response
+module.exports.tests.sanitizeHTML = function (test, common) {
+  test('sanitize HTML', function (t) {
+    var aliases = [{
+      '_id': '<em>example</em>:<p>example</p>:1',
+      'source': '<em>example</em>',
+      'layer': '<p>example</p>',
+      'name': {
+        'default': 'Example <script src="evil.js" /> Place'
+      },
+      'center_point': {
+        'lon': 0,
+        'lat': 0
+      }
+    }];
+
+    const expected = {
+      type: 'FeatureCollection',
+      features: [{
+        type: 'Feature',
+        geometry: {
+          type: 'Point',
+          coordinates: [0, 0]
+        },
+        properties: {
+          id: '1',
+          gid: 'example:example:1',
+          layer: 'example',
+          source: 'example',
+          source_id: '1',
+          name: 'Example Place'
+        }
+      }],
+      bbox: [0, 0, 0, 0]
+    };
+
+    var actual = geojsonify({}, aliases);
+    t.deepEquals(actual, expected);
+    t.end();
+  });
+
+};
+
 module.exports.all = (tape, common) => {
   function test(name, testFunction) {
     return tape(`geojsonify: ${name}`, testFunction);
diff --git a/test/unit/helper/htmlSanitize.js b/test/unit/helper/htmlSanitize.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..f6602e19b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/helper/htmlSanitize.js
@@ -0,0 +1,102 @@
+const sanitize = require('../../../helper/htmlSanitize');
+module.exports.tests = {};
+
+module.exports.tests.remove = function (test, common) {
+  test('remove: LINK tags', (t) => {
+    t.deepEquals(sanitize('AAA <link href="evil.css" /> BBB'), 'AAA BBB');
+    t.end();
+  });
+  test('remove: SCRIPT tags', (t) => {
+    t.deepEquals(sanitize('AAA <script src="evil.js" /> BBB'), 'AAA BBB');
+    t.end();
+  });
+  test('remove: STYLE tags', (t) => {
+    t.deepEquals(sanitize('AAA <style>.evil { color: red; }</style> BBB'), 'AAA BBB');
+    t.end();
+  });
+  test('remove: XML tags', (t) => {
+    t.deepEquals(sanitize('AAA <xml><evil /></xml> BBB'), 'AAA BBB');
+    t.end();
+  });
+};
+
+module.exports.tests.keep_contents = function (test, common) {
+  test('keep contents: P tags', (t) => {
+    t.deepEquals(sanitize('AAA <p>CCC</p> BBB'), 'AAA CCC BBB');
+    t.end();
+  });
+  test('keep contents: nested safe tags', (t) => {
+    t.deepEquals(sanitize('AAA <p><em>CCC</em></p> BBB'), 'AAA CCC BBB');
+    t.end();
+  });
+  test('keep contents: invalid nested safe tags (missing closing tag)', (t) => {
+    t.deepEquals(sanitize('AAA <p><em>CCC</p> BBB'), 'AAA CCC BBB');
+    t.end();
+  });
+};
+
+module.exports.tests.types = function (test, common) {
+  test('string', (t) => {
+    t.deepEquals(sanitize('AAA <link href="evil.css" /> BBB'), 'AAA BBB');
+    t.end();
+  });
+  test('string - empty', (t) => {
+    t.deepEquals(sanitize(''), '');
+    t.end();
+  });
+  test('number', (t) => {
+    t.deepEquals(sanitize(0.1), 0.1);
+    t.end();
+  });
+  test('number - empty', (t) => {
+    t.deepEquals(sanitize(NaN), NaN);
+    t.end();
+  });
+  test('array', (t) => {
+    t.deepEquals(sanitize([
+      'AAA <link href="evil.css" /> BBB',
+      'CCC <script src="evil.js" /> DDD'
+    ]), [
+      'AAA BBB',
+      'CCC DDD'
+    ]);
+    t.end();
+  });
+  test('array - empty', (t) => {
+    t.deepEquals(sanitize([]), []);
+    t.end();
+  });
+  test('object', (t) => {
+    t.deepEquals(sanitize({
+      a: 'AAA <link href="evil.css" /> BBB',
+      b: 'CCC <script src="evil.js" /> DDD'
+    }), {
+      a: 'AAA BBB',
+      b: 'CCC DDD'
+    });
+    t.end();
+  });
+  test('object - empty', (t) => {
+    t.deepEquals(sanitize({}), {});
+    t.end();
+  });
+  test('null', (t) => {
+    t.deepEquals(sanitize(null), null);
+    t.end();
+  });
+  test('undefined', (t) => {
+    t.deepEquals(sanitize(undefined), undefined);
+    t.end();
+  });
+};
+
+module.exports.all = function (tape, common) {
+
+  function test(name, testFunction) {
+    return tape('[helper] htmlSanitize: ' + name, testFunction);
+  }
+
+  for (var testCase in module.exports.tests) {
+    module.exports.tests[testCase](test, common);
+  }
+};
diff --git a/test/unit/run.js b/test/unit/run.js
index d6da58903..fd603ca10 100644
--- a/test/unit/run.js
+++ b/test/unit/run.js
@@ -36,6 +36,7 @@ var tests = [
   require('./helper/decode_gid'),
   require('./helper/diffPlaces'),
   require('./helper/fieldValue'),
+  require('./helper/htmlSanitize'),
   require('./helper/geojsonify_place_details'),
   require('./helper/geojsonify'),
   require('./helper/iso3166'),