diff --git a/app.js b/app.js
index a951f06b..842cb385 100644
--- a/app.js
+++ b/app.js
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ app.use( require('./middleware/jsonp') );
 app.get( '/', require('./controller/index')() );
 
 // suggest API
-app.get( '/suggest', require('./sanitiser/suggest'), require('./controller/suggest')() );
+app.get( '/suggest', require('./sanitiser/suggest').middleware, require('./controller/suggest')() );
 
 /** ----------------------- error middleware ----------------------- **/
 
diff --git a/sanitiser/suggest.js b/sanitiser/suggest.js
index d7dfa60a..a2112965 100644
--- a/sanitiser/suggest.js
+++ b/sanitiser/suggest.js
@@ -68,8 +68,11 @@ function sanitize( params, cb ){
 
 }
 
+// export function
+module.exports = sanitize;
+
 // middleware
-module.exports = function( req, res, next ){
+module.exports.middleware = function( req, res, next ){
   sanitize( req.query, function( err, clean ){
     if( err ){
       res.status(400); // 400 Bad Request
diff --git a/test/unit/run.js b/test/unit/run.js
index 50bfccfd..ffc77c68 100644
--- a/test/unit/run.js
+++ b/test/unit/run.js
@@ -4,7 +4,8 @@ var common = {};
 
 var tests = [
   require('./controller/index'),
-  require('./controller/suggest')
+  require('./controller/suggest'),
+  require('./sanitiser/suggest')
 ];
 
 tests.map(function(t) {
diff --git a/test/unit/sanitiser/suggest.js b/test/unit/sanitiser/suggest.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..6c76a605
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/unit/sanitiser/suggest.js
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+
+var sanitize = require('../../../sanitiser/suggest');
+
+module.exports.tests = {};
+
+module.exports.tests.interface = function(test, common) {
+  test('sanitize interface', function(t) {
+    t.equal(typeof sanitize, 'function', 'sanitize is a function');
+    t.equal(sanitize.length, 2, 'sanitize interface');
+    t.end();
+  });
+  test('middleware interface', function(t) {
+    t.equal(typeof sanitize.middleware, 'function', 'middleware is a function');
+    t.equal(sanitize.middleware.length, 3, 'sanitize is valid middleware');
+    t.end();
+  });
+};
+
+module.exports.tests.middleware_failure = function(test, common) {
+  test('middleware failure', function(t) {
+    var res = { status: function( code ){
+      t.equal(code, 400, 'status set');
+    }};
+    var next = function( message ){
+      t.equal(message,'invalid param \'input\': text length, must be >0');
+      t.end();
+    };
+    sanitize.middleware( {}, res, next );
+  });
+};
+
+module.exports.tests.middleware_success = function(test, common) {
+  test('middleware success', function(t) {
+    var req = { query: { input: 'test', lat: 0, lon: 0 }};
+    var next = function( message ){
+      t.equal(message, undefined, 'no error message set');
+      t.deepEqual(req.clean,  {
+        input: 'test', lat: 0, lon: 0,
+        layers: [ 'geoname', 'osmnode', 'osmway', 'admin0', 'admin1', 'admin2', 'neighborhood' ],
+        size: 10, zoom: 10
+      });
+      t.end();
+    };
+    sanitize.middleware( req, undefined, next );
+  });
+};
+
+module.exports.all = function (tape, common) {
+
+  function test(name, testFunction) {
+    return tape('SANTIZE /suggest ' + name, testFunction);
+  }
+
+  for( var testCase in module.exports.tests ){
+    module.exports.tests[testCase](test, common);
+  }
+};
\ No newline at end of file