diff --git a/python/morpheus/morpheus/utils/column_info.py b/python/morpheus/morpheus/utils/column_info.py
index 570b0c1cfb..80f9a73db3 100644
--- a/python/morpheus/morpheus/utils/column_info.py
+++ b/python/morpheus/morpheus/utils/column_info.py
@@ -469,7 +469,7 @@ def _process_column(self, df: pd.DataFrame) -> pd.Series:
             The processed column as a string Series.
         """
 
-        first_col = df[self.input_columns[0]]
+        first_col = df[self.input_columns[0]].astype(str)
 
         return first_col.str.cat(others=df[self.input_columns[1:]].astype(str), sep=self.sep)