diff --git a/lib/xos-kafka/xoskafka/xoskafkaproducer.py b/lib/xos-kafka/xoskafka/xoskafkaproducer.py
index 6781311..b4134d5 100644
--- a/lib/xos-kafka/xoskafka/xoskafkaproducer.py
+++ b/lib/xos-kafka/xoskafka/xoskafkaproducer.py
@@ -64,9 +64,16 @@
                 callback=cls._kafka_delivery_callback
                 )
 
+            # see https://github.com/confluentinc/confluent-kafka-python/issues/16
+            kafka_producer.poll(0)
+
         except confluent_kafka.KafkaError, err:
             log.exception("Kafka Error", err)
 
+    def __del__(self):
+       if kafka_producer is not None:
+            kafka_producer.flush()
+
     @staticmethod
     def _kafka_delivery_callback(err, msg):
         if err: