diff --git a/packages/kafka/lib/AbstractKafkaConsumer.spec.ts b/packages/kafka/lib/AbstractKafkaConsumer.spec.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5792bdd3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/kafka/lib/AbstractKafkaConsumer.spec.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,83 @@
+import { AbstractKafkaConsumer } from './AbstractKafkaConsumer.ts'
+
+describe('AbstractKafkaConsumer - handleSyncStreamBatch', () => {
+  it('must call kafkaStream.pause before and kafkaStream.resume after consuming messages', async () => {
+    // Given
+    const logger = {
+      debug: vi.fn(),
+      error: vi.fn(),
+      child: vi.fn(() => logger),
+    }
+
+    const dependencies = {
+      logger,
+      errorReporter: { report: vi.fn() },
+      messageMetricsManager: undefined,
+      transactionObservabilityManager: {
+        start: vi.fn(),
+        stop: vi.fn(),
+      },
+    } as any
+
+    const options = {
+      kafka: { bootstrapBrokers: ['localhost:9092'], clientId: 'test-client' },
+      groupId: 'test-group',
+      handlers: {},
+      batchProcessingEnabled: true,
+      batchProcessingOptions: {
+        batchSize: 10,
+        timeoutMilliseconds: 1_000,
+      },
+    } as any
+
+    const executionContext = {}
+
+    // Bypass abstract/visibility checks with `as any`
+    const consumer = new (AbstractKafkaConsumer as any)(
+      dependencies,
+      options,
+      executionContext,
+    ) as any
+
+    const calls: string[] = []
+
+    consumer.consume = vi.fn(() => {
+      calls.push('consume')
+    })
+
+    const kafkaStream = {
+      pause: vi.fn(() => {
+        calls.push('pause')
+      }),
+      resume: vi.fn(() => {
+        calls.push('resume')
+      }),
+    } as any
+
+    // Attach mocked stream so handleSyncStreamBatch uses it via this.consumerStream
+    ;(consumer as any).consumerStream = kafkaStream
+
+    const messageBatch = {
+      topic: 'test-topic',
+      partition: 0,
+      messages: [{ value: { foo: 'bar' } }],
+    }
+
+    const batchStream: any = {
+      async *[Symbol.asyncIterator]() {
+        // Add an await to satisfy async function lint rule
+        await Promise.resolve()
+        yield messageBatch
+      },
+    }
+
+    // When
+    await (consumer as any).handleSyncStreamBatch(batchStream)
+
+    // Then
+    expect(calls).toEqual(['pause', 'consume', 'resume'])
+    expect(kafkaStream.pause).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+    expect(kafkaStream.resume).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+    expect(consumer.consume).toHaveBeenCalledTimes(1)
+  })
+})
diff --git a/packages/kafka/lib/AbstractKafkaConsumer.ts b/packages/kafka/lib/AbstractKafkaConsumer.ts
index 0e5764af..19aa8039 100644
--- a/packages/kafka/lib/AbstractKafkaConsumer.ts
+++ b/packages/kafka/lib/AbstractKafkaConsumer.ts
@@ -228,10 +228,12 @@ export abstract class AbstractKafkaConsumer<
     stream: KafkaMessageBatchStream<DeserializedMessage<SupportedMessageValues<TopicsConfig>>>,
   ): Promise<void> {
     for await (const messageBatch of stream) {
+      this.consumerStream?.pause()
       await this.consume(
         messageBatch.topic,
         messageBatch.messages as DeserializedMessage<SupportedMessageValues<TopicsConfig>>,
       )
+      this.consumerStream?.resume()
     }
   }