diff --git a/compiler/tflchef/core/src/ModelChef.cpp b/compiler/tflchef/core/src/ModelChef.cpp
index 76c48e9bebc..b0b3499be87 100644
--- a/compiler/tflchef/core/src/ModelChef.cpp
+++ b/compiler/tflchef/core/src/ModelChef.cpp
@@ -869,7 +869,7 @@ void ModelChef::gather_signature_defs(const ::tflchef::ModelRecipe &model_recipe
       if (rec_tm_input.has_tensor())
       {
         // we can get tensor_index from symbol_table
-        auto tensor = rec_tm_input.tensor();
+        const auto &tensor = rec_tm_input.tensor();
         tensor_index = symbol_table[tensor];
       }
       else