diff --git a/lib/queuePopulator/LogReader.js b/lib/queuePopulator/LogReader.js
index 4189cdfea..0beacfe27 100644
--- a/lib/queuePopulator/LogReader.js
+++ b/lib/queuePopulator/LogReader.js
@@ -52,6 +52,8 @@ class LogReader {
         this._metricsHandler = params.metricsHandler;
         // TODO: use a common handler for zk metrics from all extensions
         this._zkMetricsHandler = params.zkMetricsHandler;
+
+        this.batchTimeoutSeconds = parseInt(process.env.BATCH_TIMEOUT_SECONDS, 10) || 300;
     }
 
     _setEntryBatch(entryBatch) {
@@ -291,6 +293,15 @@ class LogReader {
             timeoutMs: params.timeoutMs,
             logger: this.log.newRequestLogger(),
         };
+        // When using the RaftLogReader log consumer, The batch
+        // processing can get stuck sometimes for unknown reasons.
+        // As a temporary fix we set a timeout to kill the process.
+        const batchTimeoutTimer = setTimeout(() => {
+            this.log.error('queue populator batch timeout', {
+                logStats: batchState.logStats,
+            });
+            process.emit('SIGTERM');
+        },  this.batchTimeoutSeconds * 1000);
         async.waterfall([
             next => this._processReadRecords(params, batchState, next),
             next => this._processPrepareEntries(batchState, next),
@@ -299,6 +310,7 @@ class LogReader {
             next => this._processSaveLogOffset(batchState, next),
         ],
             err => {
+                clearTimeout(batchTimeoutTimer);
                 if (err) {
                     return done(err);
                 }
diff --git a/tests/unit/lib/queuePopulator/LogReader.spec.js b/tests/unit/lib/queuePopulator/LogReader.spec.js
index 638878987..a374dd54a 100644
--- a/tests/unit/lib/queuePopulator/LogReader.spec.js
+++ b/tests/unit/lib/queuePopulator/LogReader.spec.js
@@ -296,5 +296,37 @@ describe('LogReader', () => {
                 });
             });
         });
+
+        it('should shutdown when batch processing is stuck', done => {
+            logReader.batchTimeoutSeconds = 1;
+            // logReader will become stuck as _processReadRecords will never
+            // call the callback
+            sinon.stub(logReader, '_processReadRecords').returns();
+            let emmitted = false;
+            process.once('SIGTERM', () => {
+                emmitted = true;
+            });
+            logReader.processLogEntries({}, () => {});
+            setTimeout(() => {
+                assert.strictEqual(emmitted, true);
+                done();
+            }, 2000);
+        }).timeout(4000);
+
+        it('should not shutdown if timeout not reached', done => {
+            sinon.stub(logReader, '_processReadRecords').yields();
+            sinon.stub(logReader, '_processPrepareEntries').yields();
+            sinon.stub(logReader, '_processFilterEntries').yields();
+            sinon.stub(logReader, '_processPublishEntries').yields();
+            sinon.stub(logReader, '_processSaveLogOffset').yields();
+            let emmitted = false;
+            process.once('SIGTERM', () => {
+                emmitted = true;
+            });
+            logReader.processLogEntries({}, () => {
+                assert.strictEqual(emmitted, false);
+                done();
+            });
+        });
     });
 });