diff --git a/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/markup/html/internal/HtmlHeaderItemsContainer.java b/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/markup/html/internal/HtmlHeaderItemsContainer.java
index 4249c6a2b18..d6758cd7126 100644
--- a/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/markup/html/internal/HtmlHeaderItemsContainer.java
+++ b/wicket-core/src/main/java/org/apache/wicket/markup/html/internal/HtmlHeaderItemsContainer.java
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ public HtmlHeaderItemsContainer(String id)
 	protected void onAfterRender() {
 		super.onAfterRender();
 		final Response webResponse = getResponse();
-		webResponse.write("<meta name=\"wicket.header.items\"/>");
+		webResponse.write("<meta name=\"wicket.header.items\" content=\"\"/>");
 	}
 
 	@Override