diff --git a/scouter/activities/kafka.py b/scouter/activities/kafka.py
index 089b28b..a05b292 100644
--- a/scouter/activities/kafka.py
+++ b/scouter/activities/kafka.py
@@ -56,7 +56,14 @@ class Kafka(BaseActivity):
         topic = input_data["topic"]
 
         # Subscribe to the specified topic
-        self.kafka_connector.subscribe([topic])
+        self.kafka_connector = KafkaConsumer(
+            topic,
+            bootstrap_servers=self.bootstrap_servers,
+            auto_offset_reset="earliest",
+            enable_auto_commit=True,
+            group_id=self.group_id,
+            value_deserializer=lambda x: json.loads(x.decode("utf-8"))
+        )
 
         # List to store message values
         message_values = []
diff --git a/values.yaml b/values.yaml
index 48db1f1..8006b67 100644
--- a/values.yaml
+++ b/values.yaml
@@ -146,7 +146,7 @@ env:
   - name: KAFKA_BOOTSTRAP_SERVERS
     value: "kafka.kafka.svc.cluster.local:9092"
   - name: KAFKA_POLLING_TIME
-    value: "1000"
+    value: "10000"
 
   - name: REDIS_HOST
     value: "redis-master.redis.svc.cluster.local"