diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemWriter.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemWriter.java
index 7bf4fcea97..594cef0b3f 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemWriter.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/main/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemWriter.java
@@ -259,7 +259,7 @@ private void doOpen(ExecutionContext executionContext) throws ItemStreamExceptio
 			if (headerCallback != null) {
 				try {
 					headerCallback.writeHeader(outputState.outputBufferedWriter);
-					outputState.write("\n");
+					outputState.write(lineSeparator);
 				}
 				catch (IOException e) {
 					throw new ItemStreamException("Could not write headers.  The file may be corrupt.", e);
diff --git a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemWriterTests.java b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemWriterTests.java
index 6745f1fa53..61635e268b 100644
--- a/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemWriterTests.java
+++ b/spring-batch-infrastructure/src/test/java/org/springframework/batch/item/file/FlatFileItemWriterTests.java
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ public void setUp() throws Exception {
 		outputFile = File.createTempFile("flatfile-test-output-", ".tmp");
 
 		writer.setResource(new FileSystemResource(outputFile));
+		writer.setLineSeparator("\n");
 		writer.setLineAggregator(new PassThroughLineAggregator<String>());
 		writer.afterPropertiesSet();
 		writer.setSaveState(true);