diff --git a/alphastats/loader/BaseLoader.py b/alphastats/loader/BaseLoader.py
index e94138d2..97d7d765 100644
--- a/alphastats/loader/BaseLoader.py
+++ b/alphastats/loader/BaseLoader.py
@@ -3,9 +3,16 @@
 import os
 import numpy as np
 from alphastats.utils import find_duplicates_in_list
-import pkg_resources
 from typing import Union
 
+import sys
+
+if sys.version_info >= (3, 9):
+    import importlib.resources as importlib_resources
+else:
+    # TODO drop this together with support for python 3.8
+    import importlib_resources
+
 
 class BaseLoader:
     """Parent class of Loaders"""
@@ -74,8 +81,8 @@ def _check_if_file_exists(self, file):
 
     def _add_contamination_column(self):
         #  load df with potential contamination from fasta file
-        contaminations_path = pkg_resources.resource_filename(
-            __name__, "../data/contaminations.txt"
+        contaminations_path = (
+            importlib_resources.files(__name__) / "../data/contaminations.txt"
         )
         contaminations = pd.read_csv(contaminations_path, sep="\t")
         contaminations_ids = contaminations["Uniprot ID"].to_list()
diff --git a/release/pyinstaller/alphastats.spec b/release/pyinstaller/alphastats.spec
index d0b43af1..55faff7c 100644
--- a/release/pyinstaller/alphastats.spec
+++ b/release/pyinstaller/alphastats.spec
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import os
 import sys
 from PyInstaller.building.build_main import Analysis, PYZ, EXE, COLLECT, BUNDLE, TOC
 import PyInstaller.utils.hooks
-import pkg_resources
 import importlib.metadata
 import alphastats
 from PyInstaller.utils.hooks import collect_submodules