diff --git a/pixelocr/formatting.py b/pixelocr/formatting.py
index eb75757..b3388d6 100644
--- a/pixelocr/formatting.py
+++ b/pixelocr/formatting.py
@@ -87,7 +87,8 @@ class HTMLFormat(OutputFormat):
 
     def format_tag(self, tag, text):
         from xml.sax.saxutils import escape
+        text = escape(text)
         if tag:
-            return '<{tag}>{text}</{tag}>'.format(tag=tag, text=escape(text))
+            return '<{tag}>{text}</{tag}>'.format(tag=tag, text=text)
         else:
             return text