diff --git a/sdk/go/common/workspace/loaders.go b/sdk/go/common/workspace/loaders.go
index c1643e48f709..7bc50f27db58 100644
--- a/sdk/go/common/workspace/loaders.go
+++ b/sdk/go/common/workspace/loaders.go
@@ -15,8 +15,6 @@
 package workspace
 
 import (
-	"fmt"
-	"io/ioutil"
 	"os"
 	"sync"
 
@@ -49,6 +47,27 @@ var policyPackProjectSingleton *policyPackProjectLoader = &policyPackProjectLoad
 	internal: map[string]*PolicyPackProject{},
 }
 
+// readFile wraps os.ReadFile and also strips the Byte-order Mark (BOM) if present.
+func readFile(path string) ([]byte, error) {
+	b, err := os.ReadFile(path)
+	if err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+
+	// Strip BOM bytes if present to avoid problems with downstream parsing.
+	// References:
+	//   https://github.com/spkg/bom
+	//   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byte_order_mark
+	if len(b) >= 3 &&
+		b[0] == 0xef &&
+		b[1] == 0xbb &&
+		b[2] == 0xbf {
+		b = b[3:]
+	}
+
+	return b, nil
+}
+
 // projectLoader is used to load a single global instance of a Project config.
 type projectLoader struct {
 	sync.RWMutex
@@ -69,12 +88,10 @@ func (singleton *projectLoader) load(path string) (*Project, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	b, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path)
+	b, err := readFile(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	fmt.Printf("***Project string(bytes):\n%s\n***End Project string(bytes)\n", string(b))
-	fmt.Printf("***Project bytes:\n%v\n***End Project bytes\n", b)
 
 	var project Project
 	err = marshaller.Unmarshal(b, &project)
@@ -87,7 +104,6 @@ func (singleton *projectLoader) load(path string) (*Project, error) {
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	fmt.Printf("***Project struct:\n%+v\n", project)
 	err = project.Validate()
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
@@ -118,7 +134,7 @@ func (singleton *projectStackLoader) load(path string) (*ProjectStack, error) {
 	}
 
 	var projectStack ProjectStack
-	b, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path)
+	b, err := readFile(path)
 	if os.IsNotExist(err) {
 		projectStack = ProjectStack{
 			Config:  make(config.Map),
@@ -169,7 +185,7 @@ func (singleton *pluginProjectLoader) load(path string) (*PluginProject, error)
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	b, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path)
+	b, err := readFile(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
@@ -209,7 +225,7 @@ func (singleton *policyPackProjectLoader) load(path string) (*PolicyPackProject,
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	b, err := ioutil.ReadFile(path)
+	b, err := readFile(path)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}