diff --git a/pkg/upstream/stack/loader.go b/pkg/upstream/stack/loader.go
index 8997d201..f0697c93 100644
--- a/pkg/upstream/stack/loader.go
+++ b/pkg/upstream/stack/loader.go
@@ -21,27 +21,30 @@ type LoadConf struct {
 func LoadCompose(conf LoadConf) (*composeGoTypes.Project, error) {
 	// NOTE(d1): silence compose-go internal logger
 	logrus.SetOutput(io.Discard)
-
 	if len(conf.ComposeFiles) == 0 {
 		return nil, errors.New(i18n.G("LoadCompose: provide compose files"))
 	}
 
-	newProjectOptions := []composeGoCli.ProjectOptionsFn{}
-	if len(conf.AppEnv) == 0 {
-		newProjectOptions = append(newProjectOptions, composeGoCli.WithInterpolation(false))
-	} else {
+	hasEnvVariables := len(conf.AppEnv) > 0
+	newProjectOptions := []composeGoCli.ProjectOptionsFn{
+		composeGoCli.WithInterpolation(hasEnvVariables),
+	}
+
+	if hasEnvVariables {
 		var env []string
 		for k, v := range conf.AppEnv {
 			env = append(env, fmt.Sprintf("%s=%s", k, v))
 		}
 		newProjectOptions = append(newProjectOptions, composeGoCli.WithEnv(env))
+
 		stackName, ok := conf.AppEnv["STACK_NAME"]
 		if ok && stackName != "" {
 			newProjectOptions = append(newProjectOptions, composeGoCli.WithName(stackName))
 		}
 	}
 
-	// this is needed for updating tags, because each file is loaded one by one
+	// this is needed for updating tags and labels, because each file is loaded one by one
+	// and the consistency check requires every loaded file to have an image with tag
 	if conf.DisableConsistencyCheck {
 		newProjectOptions = append(newProjectOptions, composeGoCli.WithConsistency(false))
 	}
@@ -50,10 +53,5 @@ func LoadCompose(conf LoadConf) (*composeGoTypes.Project, error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
-	project, err := projectOptions.LoadProject(context.Background())
-	if err != nil {
-		return project, err
-	}
-
-	return project, nil
+	return projectOptions.LoadProject(context.Background())
 }