diff --git a/gst/gstbuffer.c b/gst/gstbuffer.c
index 7eb34728d0..ac98871d42 100644
--- a/gst/gstbuffer.c
+++ b/gst/gstbuffer.c
@@ -2091,7 +2091,14 @@ gst_buffer_add_meta (GstBuffer * buffer, const GstMetaInfo * info,
 
   /* create a new slice */
   size = ITEM_SIZE (info);
-  item = g_slice_alloc (size);
+  /* We warn in gst_meta_register() about metas without
+   * init function but let's play safe here and prevent
+   * uninitialized memory
+   */
+  if (!info->init_func)
+    item = g_slice_alloc0 (size);
+  else
+    item = g_slice_alloc (size);
   result = &item->meta;
   result->info = info;
   result->flags = GST_META_FLAG_NONE;
diff --git a/gst/gstmeta.c b/gst/gstmeta.c
index 1269c564d4..daa26ca18e 100644
--- a/gst/gstmeta.c
+++ b/gst/gstmeta.c
@@ -172,6 +172,10 @@ gst_meta_register (GType api, const gchar * impl, gsize size,
   g_return_val_if_fail (impl != NULL, NULL);
   g_return_val_if_fail (size != 0, NULL);
 
+  if (init_func == NULL)
+    g_critical ("Registering meta implementation '%s' without init function",
+        impl);
+
   /* first try to register the implementation name. It's possible
    * that this fails because it was already registered. Don't warn,
    * glib did this for us already. */