diff --git a/internals/handlers/ingester_handlers.go b/internals/handlers/ingester_handlers.go
index 8744d3b..6599d24 100644
--- a/internals/handlers/ingester_handlers.go
+++ b/internals/handlers/ingester_handlers.go
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 package handlers
 
 import (
+	"errors"
 	jsoniter "github.com/json-iterator/go"
 	"net/http"
 
@@ -53,10 +54,12 @@ func (handler *IngesterHandler) ReceiveData(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Reque
 
 	err = handler.bulkIngester.Ingest(bir)
 	if err != nil {
-		if err.Error() == "channel overload" { // Replace with custom error
+		if errors.Is(err, ingester.ErrChannelOverload) {
 			w.WriteHeader(http.StatusTooManyRequests)
 		} else if err.Error() == "elasticsearch healthcheck red" { // Replace with custom error
 			w.WriteHeader(http.StatusInternalServerError)
+		} else if errors.Is(err, ingester.ErrDocumentTypeEmpty) {
+			w.WriteHeader(http.StatusBadRequest)
 		}
 		return
 	}
diff --git a/internals/ingester/bulk.go b/internals/ingester/bulk.go
index 16b5212..6393157 100644
--- a/internals/ingester/bulk.go
+++ b/internals/ingester/bulk.go
@@ -9,6 +9,11 @@ import (
 	"go.uber.org/zap"
 )
 
+var (
+	ErrChannelOverload   = errors.New("channel overload")
+	ErrDocumentTypeEmpty = errors.New("document type is empty")
+)
+
 // BulkIngester is a component which split BulkIngestRequest and affect the resulting IngestRequests to dedicated TypedIngester
 // As a chokepoint, it doesn't do much processing and only acts as a request router
 type BulkIngester struct {
@@ -44,6 +49,10 @@ func (ingester *BulkIngester) getTypedIngester(targetDocumentType string) *Typed
 func (ingester *BulkIngester) Ingest(bir BulkIngestRequest) error {
 	zap.L().Debug("Processing BulkIngestRequest", zap.String("BulkUUID", bir.UUID))
 
+	if bir.DocumentType == "" {
+		return ErrDocumentTypeEmpty
+	}
+
 	mergeConfig := bir.MergeConfig[0]
 	typedIngester := ingester.getTypedIngester(bir.DocumentType)
 
@@ -53,7 +62,7 @@ func (ingester *BulkIngester) Ingest(bir BulkIngestRequest) error {
 		for _, worker := range typedIngester.Workers {
 			worker.GetMetricWorkerQueueGauge().Set(float64(len(worker.GetData())))
 		}
-		return errors.New("channel overload") // Replace with custom error
+		return ErrChannelOverload
 	}
 
 	for i, doc := range bir.Docs {