diff --git a/hug/api.py b/hug/api.py
index 1959ac8d..3955fa11 100644
--- a/hug/api.py
+++ b/hug/api.py
@@ -307,7 +307,7 @@ def handle_404(request, response, *args, **kwargs):
                                                             prefix=url_prefix)
             response.data = hug.output_format.json(to_return, indent=4, separators=(',', ': '))
             response.status = falcon.HTTP_NOT_FOUND
-            response.content_type = 'application/json'
+            response.content_type = 'application/json; charset=utf-8'
         handle_404.interface = True
         return handle_404
 
diff --git a/hug/output_format.py b/hug/output_format.py
index 5482428a..a9c663da 100644
--- a/hug/output_format.py
+++ b/hug/output_format.py
@@ -105,7 +105,7 @@ def numpy_floatable(item):
         return float(item)
 
 
-@content_type('application/json')
+@content_type('application/json; charset=utf-8')
 def json(content, request=None, response=None, ensure_ascii=False, **kwargs):
     """JSON (Javascript Serialized Object Notation)"""
     if hasattr(content, 'read'):
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ def output_content(content, response, **kwargs):
     return wrapper
 
 
-@content_type('text/plain')
+@content_type('text/plain; charset=utf-8')
 def text(content, **kwargs):
     """Free form UTF-8 text"""
     if hasattr(content, 'read'):
@@ -150,7 +150,7 @@ def text(content, **kwargs):
     return str(content).encode('utf8')
 
 
-@content_type('text/html')
+@content_type('text/html; charset=utf-8')
 def html(content, **kwargs):
     """HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)"""
     if hasattr(content, 'read'):
@@ -178,13 +178,13 @@ def _camelcase(content):
         return content
 
 
-@content_type('application/json')
+@content_type('application/json; charset=utf-8')
 def json_camelcase(content, **kwargs):
     """JSON (Javascript Serialized Object Notation) with all keys camelCased"""
     return json(_camelcase(content), **kwargs)
 
 
-@content_type('application/json')
+@content_type('application/json; charset=utf-8')
 def pretty_json(content, **kwargs):
     """JSON (Javascript Serialized Object Notion) pretty printed and indented"""
     return json(content, indent=4, separators=(',', ': '), **kwargs)
diff --git a/hug/test.py b/hug/test.py
index d231d484..3536c800 100644
--- a/hug/test.py
+++ b/hug/test.py
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ def call(method, api_or_module, url, body='', headers=None, params=None, query_s
         except (UnicodeDecodeError, AttributeError):
             response.data = result[0]
         response.content_type = response.headers_dict['content-type']
-        if response.content_type == 'application/json':
+        if 'application/json' in response.content_type:
             response.data = json.loads(response.data)
 
     return response