diff --git a/packages/toolkit/src/query/fetchBaseQuery.ts b/packages/toolkit/src/query/fetchBaseQuery.ts
index 8a555852c4..173f3e1bbc 100644
--- a/packages/toolkit/src/query/fetchBaseQuery.ts
+++ b/packages/toolkit/src/query/fetchBaseQuery.ts
@@ -42,26 +42,6 @@ const defaultValidateStatus = (response: Response) =>
 const defaultIsJsonContentType = (headers: Headers) =>
   /*applicat*/ /ion\/(vnd\.api\+)?json/.test(headers.get('content-type') || '')
 
-const handleResponse = async (
-  response: Response,
-  responseHandler: ResponseHandler
-) => {
-  if (typeof responseHandler === 'function') {
-    return responseHandler(response)
-  }
-
-  if (responseHandler === 'content-type') {
-    responseHandler = isJsonContentType(response.headers) ? 'json' : 'text'
-  }
-
-  if (responseHandler === 'json') {
-    const text = await response.text()
-    return text.length ? JSON.parse(text) : null
-  }
-
-  return response.text()
-}
-
 export type FetchBaseQueryError =
   | {
       /**
@@ -345,4 +325,24 @@ export function fetchBaseQuery({
           meta,
         }
   }
+
+  async function handleResponse(
+    response: Response,
+    responseHandler: ResponseHandler
+  ) {
+    if (typeof responseHandler === 'function') {
+      return responseHandler(response)
+    }
+
+    if (responseHandler === 'content-type') {
+      responseHandler = isJsonContentType(response.headers) ? 'json' : 'text'
+    }
+
+    if (responseHandler === 'json') {
+      const text = await response.text()
+      return text.length ? JSON.parse(text) : null
+    }
+
+    return response.text()
+  }
 }