diff --git a/C4/Biblio.pm b/C4/Biblio.pm
index 1a4e978a05..093fdafcd5 100644
--- a/C4/Biblio.pm
+++ b/C4/Biblio.pm
@@ -2841,6 +2841,8 @@ sub EmbedItemsInMarcBiblio {
     my ($marc, $biblionumber) = @_;
     croak "No MARC record" unless $marc;
 
+    $itemnumbers = [] unless defined $itemnumbers;
+
     my $frameworkcode = GetFrameworkCode($biblionumber);
     _strip_item_fields($marc, $frameworkcode);