diff --git a/src/cobra/io/json.py b/src/cobra/io/json.py
index 6ffbebcf7..83347219b 100644
--- a/src/cobra/io/json.py
+++ b/src/cobra/io/json.py
@@ -1,16 +1,12 @@
 """Provide functions for I/O in JSON format."""
 
+import json
 from pathlib import Path
 from typing import IO, TYPE_CHECKING, Any, Union
 
 from .dict import model_from_dict, model_to_dict
 
 
-try:
-    import simplejson as json
-except ImportError:
-    import json
-
 if TYPE_CHECKING:
     from cobra import Model