diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemReader.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemReader.java
index b5ab389ce..8bfd0df2a 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemReader.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemReader.java
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
  * about the problematic line and its line number.
  * 
  * @author Robert Kasanicky
+ * @author Mahmoud Ben Hassine
  */
 public class FlatFileItemReader<T> extends AbstractItemCountingItemStreamItemReader<T> implements
 		ResourceAwareItemReaderItemStream<T>, InitializingBean {
@@ -49,6 +50,8 @@ public class FlatFileItemReader<T> extends AbstractItemCountingItemStreamItemRea
 	// default encoding for input files
 	public static final String DEFAULT_CHARSET = Charset.defaultCharset().name();
 
+	public static final String[] DEFAULT_COMMENT_PREFIXES = new String[] { "#" };
+
 	private RecordSeparatorPolicy recordSeparatorPolicy = new SimpleRecordSeparatorPolicy();
 
 	private Resource resource;
@@ -57,7 +60,7 @@ public class FlatFileItemReader<T> extends AbstractItemCountingItemStreamItemRea
 
 	private int lineCount = 0;
 
-	private String[] comments = new String[] { "#" };
+	private String[] comments = DEFAULT_COMMENT_PREFIXES;
 
 	private boolean noInput = false;
 
@@ -133,7 +136,7 @@ public class FlatFileItemReader<T> extends AbstractItemCountingItemStreamItemRea
 
 	/**
 	 * Setter for comment prefixes. Can be used to ignore header lines as well by using e.g. the first couple of column
-	 * names as a prefix.
+	 * names as a prefix. Defaults to {@link #DEFAULT_COMMENT_PREFIXES}.
 	 * 
 	 * @param comments an array of comment line prefixes.
 	 */
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/builder/FlatFileItemReaderBuilder.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/builder/FlatFileItemReaderBuilder.java
index f75adc8d0..b451135fa 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/builder/FlatFileItemReaderBuilder.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/builder/FlatFileItemReaderBuilder.java
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 /*
- * Copyright 2016-2018 the original author or authors.
+ * Copyright 2016-2019 the original author or authors.
  *
  * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
  * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
@@ -70,7 +70,8 @@ public class FlatFileItemReaderBuilder<T> {
 
 	private Resource resource;
 
-	private List<String> comments = new ArrayList<>();
+	private List<String> comments =
+			new ArrayList<>(Arrays.asList(FlatFileItemReader.DEFAULT_COMMENT_PREFIXES));
 
 	private int linesToSkip = 0;
 
@@ -165,6 +166,7 @@ public class FlatFileItemReaderBuilder<T> {
 
 	/**
 	 * Add a string to the list of Strings that indicate commented lines.
+	 * Defaults to {@link FlatFileItemReader#DEFAULT_COMMENT_PREFIXES}.
 	 *
 	 * @param comment the string to define a commented line.
 	 * @return The current instance of the builder.
@@ -176,15 +178,16 @@ public class FlatFileItemReaderBuilder<T> {
 	}
 
 	/**
-	 * An array of Strings that indicate lines that are comments (and therefore skipped by
-	 * the reader.
+	 * Set an array of Strings that indicate lines that are comments (and therefore skipped by
+	 * the reader). This method overrides the default comment prefixes which are
+	 * {@link FlatFileItemReader#DEFAULT_COMMENT_PREFIXES}.
 	 *
 	 * @param comments an array of strings to identify comments.
 	 * @return The current instance of the builder.
 	 * @see FlatFileItemReader#setComments(String[])
 	 */
-	public FlatFileItemReaderBuilder<T> comments(String[] comments) {
-		this.comments.addAll(Arrays.asList(comments));
+	public FlatFileItemReaderBuilder<T> comments(String... comments) {
+		this.comments = Arrays.asList(comments);
 		return this;
 	}
 
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/builder/FlatFileItemReaderBuilderTests.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/builder/FlatFileItemReaderBuilderTests.java
index 1af45f068..6d4bb4b64 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/builder/FlatFileItemReaderBuilderTests.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/builder/FlatFileItemReaderBuilderTests.java
@@ -295,7 +295,7 @@ public class FlatFileItemReaderBuilderTests {
 	public void testDefaultComments() throws Exception {
 		FlatFileItemReader<Foo> reader = new FlatFileItemReaderBuilder<Foo>()
 				.name("fooReader")
-				.resource(getResource("1,2,3\n4,5,6"))
+				.resource(getResource("1,2,3\n4,5,6\n#this is a default comment"))
 				.delimited()
 				.names(new String[] {"first", "second", "third"})
 				.targetType(Foo.class)