diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index d04c8e415..e885159b8 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -606,7 +606,14 @@ Browserify.prototype._recorder = function (opts) {
 Browserify.prototype._json = function () {
     return through.obj(function (row, enc, next) {
         if (/\.json$/.test(row.file)) {
-            row.source = 'module.exports=' + sanitize(row.source);
+            var sanitizedString = sanitize(row.source);
+            try {
+                // check json validity
+                JSON.parse(sanitizedString);
+                row.source = 'module.exports=' + sanitizedString;
+            } catch (e) {
+                this.emit('error', syntaxError(e.message, row.file || row.id));
+            }
         }
         this.push(row);
         next();
diff --git a/test/json.js b/test/json.js
index a942791c0..64549edeb 100644
--- a/test/json.js
+++ b/test/json.js
@@ -48,7 +48,6 @@ test('invalid json', function (t) {
     t.plan(1);
     b.add(__dirname + '/json/invalid.js');
     b.bundle(function (err, src) {
-        //console.log(src);
         t.ok(err);
     });
 });