diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1feefd57..820e4874 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,5 +1,9 @@
 # Changelog
 
+- 3.19.0
+  - Forward unhandled messages in topic/group consumer processes to handle_info/2 callbacks
+    in order to support arbitrary message passing [PR#580](https://github.com/kafka4beam/brod/pull/580) 
+
 - 3.18.0
   - Add transactional APIs. [PR#549](https://github.com/kafka4beam/brod/pull/549)
   - Fix unnecessary group coordinator restart due to `hb_timeout` exception. [PR#578](https://github.com/kafka4beam/brod/pull/578)
diff --git a/src/brod_group_subscriber_worker.erl b/src/brod_group_subscriber_worker.erl
index 4f0c40ae..7dd69f9f 100644
--- a/src/brod_group_subscriber_worker.erl
+++ b/src/brod_group_subscriber_worker.erl
@@ -22,7 +22,7 @@
 -include("brod_int.hrl").
 
 %% brod_topic_subscriber callbacks
--export([init/2, handle_message/3, terminate/2]).
+-export([init/2, handle_message/3, handle_info/2, terminate/2]).
 
 -type start_options() ::
         #{ group_id     := brod:group_id()
@@ -91,6 +91,15 @@ handle_message(_Partition, Msg, State) ->
       {ok, NewState}
   end.
 
+handle_info(Info, #state{cb_module = CbModule , cb_state = CbState} = State) ->
+  %% Any unhandled messages are forwarded to the callback module to
+  %% support arbitrary message-passing.
+  %% Only the {noreply, State} return value is supported.
+  case brod_utils:optional_callback(CbModule, handle_info, [Info, CbState], {noreply, CbState}) of
+    {noreply, NewCbState} ->
+      {noreply, State#state{cb_state = NewCbState}}
+  end.
+
 terminate(Reason, #state{cb_module = CbModule, cb_state = State}) ->
   brod_utils:optional_callback(CbModule, terminate, [Reason, State], ok).
 
diff --git a/src/brod_topic_subscriber.erl b/src/brod_topic_subscriber.erl
index 08f6512d..9b8add98 100644
--- a/src/brod_topic_subscriber.erl
+++ b/src/brod_topic_subscriber.erl
@@ -108,7 +108,12 @@
 %% This callback is called before stopping the subscriber
 -callback terminate(_Reason, cb_state()) -> _.
 
--optional_callbacks([terminate/2]).
+%% This callback is called when the subscriber receives a message unrelated to
+%% the subscription.
+%% The callback must return `{noreply, NewCallbackState}'.
+-callback handle_info(_Msg, cb_state()) -> {noreply, cb_state()}.
+
+-optional_callbacks([terminate/2, handle_info/2]).
 
 %%%_* Types and macros =========================================================
 
@@ -357,8 +362,14 @@ handle_info({'DOWN', _Mref, process, Pid, Reason},
       %% not a consumer pid
       {noreply, State}
   end;
-handle_info(_Info, State) ->
-  {noreply, State}.
+handle_info(Info, #state{cb_module = CbModule, cb_state = CbState} = State) ->
+  %% Any unhandled messages are forwarded to the callback module to
+  %% support arbitrary message-passing.
+  %% Only the {noreply, State} return value is supported.
+  case brod_utils:optional_callback(CbModule, handle_info, [Info, CbState], {noreply, CbState}) of
+    {noreply, NewCbState} ->
+      {noreply, State#state{cb_state = NewCbState}}
+  end.
 
 %% @private
 handle_call(Call, _From, State) ->
diff --git a/test/brod_topic_subscriber_SUITE.erl b/test/brod_topic_subscriber_SUITE.erl
index 9c022a9d..49f72e91 100644
--- a/test/brod_topic_subscriber_SUITE.erl
+++ b/test/brod_topic_subscriber_SUITE.erl
@@ -30,6 +30,7 @@
 -export([ init/2
         , terminate/2
         , handle_message/3
+        , handle_info/2
         ]).
 
 %% Test cases
@@ -40,6 +41,7 @@
         , t_callback_crash/1
         , t_begin_offset/1
         , t_cb_fun/1
+        , t_consumer_ack_via_message_passing/1
         ]).
 
 -include("brod_test_setup.hrl").
@@ -107,6 +109,21 @@ handle_message(Partition, Message, #state{ is_async_ack = IsAsyncAck
     false -> {ok, ack, State}
   end.
 
+handle_info({ack_offset, Partition, Offset} = Msg, #state{ counter = Counter
+                                                         , worker_id = Ref
+                                                         } = State0) ->
+  %% Participate in state continuity checks
+  ?tp(topic_subscriber_seen_info, 
+      #{ partition => Partition
+       , offset    => Offset
+       , msg       => Msg
+       , state     => Counter
+       , worker_id => Ref
+       }),
+  State = State0#state{counter = Counter + 1},
+  ok = brod_topic_subscriber:ack(self(), Partition, Offset),
+  {noreply, State}.
+
 terminate(Reason, #state{worker_id = Ref, counter = Counter}) ->
   ?tp(topic_subscriber_terminate,
       #{ worker_id => Ref
@@ -184,6 +201,44 @@ t_async_acks(Config) when is_list(Config) ->
          check_init_terminate(Trace)
      end).
 
+t_consumer_ack_via_message_passing(Config) when is_list(Config) ->
+  %% Process messages one by one with no prefetch
+  ConsumerConfig = [ {prefetch_count, 0}
+                   , {prefetch_bytes, 0}
+                   , {sleep_timeout, 0}
+                   , {max_bytes, 0}
+                   ],
+  Partition = 0,
+  SendFun =
+    fun(I) ->
+        produce({?topic, Partition}, <<I>>)
+    end,
+  ?check_trace(
+     %% Run stage:
+     begin
+       O0 = SendFun(0),
+       %% Send two messages
+       Offset0 = SendFun(1),
+       _Offset1 = SendFun(2),
+       InitArgs = {_IsAsyncAck = true,
+                   _ConsumerOffsets = [{0, O0}]},
+       {ok, SubscriberPid} =
+         brod:start_link_topic_subscriber(?CLIENT_ID, ?topic, ConsumerConfig,
+                                          ?MODULE, InitArgs),
+      {ok, _} = wait_message(<<1>>),
+      %% ack_offset allows consumer to proceed to message 2
+      SubscriberPid ! {ack_offset, 0, Offset0},
+      {ok, _} = wait_message(<<2>>),
+       ok = brod_topic_subscriber:stop(SubscriberPid),
+       _Expected = [<<1>>, <<2>>]
+     end,
+     %% Check stage:
+     fun(Expected, Trace) ->
+         check_received_messages(Expected, Trace),
+         check_state_continuity(Trace),
+         check_init_terminate(Trace)
+     end).
+
 t_begin_offset(Config) when is_list(Config) ->
   ConsumerConfig = [ {prefetch_count, 100}
                    , {prefetch_bytes, 0} %% as discard