diff --git a/spring-kafka/pom.xml b/spring-kafka/pom.xml
index 3673fe8fa5..235dd75966 100644
--- a/spring-kafka/pom.xml
+++ b/spring-kafka/pom.xml
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.springframework.kafka</groupId>
             <artifactId>spring-kafka</artifactId>
+            <version>${spring-kafka.version}</version>
         </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>com.fasterxml.jackson.core</groupId>
@@ -30,18 +31,20 @@
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.springframework.kafka</groupId>
             <artifactId>spring-kafka-test</artifactId>
+            <version>${spring-kafka.version}</version>
             <scope>test</scope>
         </dependency>
         <dependency>
             <groupId>org.testcontainers</groupId>
             <artifactId>kafka</artifactId>
+            <version>${testcontainers-kafka.version}</version>
             <scope>test</scope>
-            <version>1.15.0-rc2</version>
         </dependency>
     </dependencies>
 
     <properties>
-        <spring-kafka.version>2.3.7.RELEASE</spring-kafka.version>
+        <spring-kafka.version>2.5.8.RELEASE</spring-kafka.version>
+        <testcontainers-kafka.version>1.15.0</testcontainers-kafka.version>
     </properties>
 
 </project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/spring-kafka/src/test/java/com/baeldung/kafka/embedded/EmbeddedKafkaIntegrationTest.java b/spring-kafka/src/test/java/com/baeldung/kafka/embedded/EmbeddedKafkaIntegrationTest.java
index 49ea080369..4c727795c4 100644
--- a/spring-kafka/src/test/java/com/baeldung/kafka/embedded/EmbeddedKafkaIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/spring-kafka/src/test/java/com/baeldung/kafka/embedded/EmbeddedKafkaIntegrationTest.java
@@ -1,22 +1,19 @@
 package com.baeldung.kafka.embedded;
 
-import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
-import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
-import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
-import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Value;
-import org.springframework.boot.test.context.SpringBootTest;
-import org.springframework.kafka.core.KafkaTemplate;
-import org.springframework.kafka.test.context.EmbeddedKafka;
-import org.springframework.test.annotation.DirtiesContext;
-import org.springframework.test.context.junit4.SpringRunner;
-
 import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.containsString;
 import static org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers.equalTo;
 import static org.hamcrest.MatcherAssert.assertThat;
 
 import java.util.concurrent.TimeUnit;
 
-@RunWith(SpringRunner.class)
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
+import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Value;
+import org.springframework.boot.test.context.SpringBootTest;
+import org.springframework.kafka.core.KafkaTemplate;
+import org.springframework.kafka.test.context.EmbeddedKafka;
+import org.springframework.test.annotation.DirtiesContext;
+
 @SpringBootTest
 @DirtiesContext
 @EmbeddedKafka(partitions = 1, brokerProperties = { "listeners=PLAINTEXT://localhost:9092", "port=9092" })
@@ -45,7 +42,7 @@ class EmbeddedKafkaIntegrationTest {
 
     @Test
     public void givenEmbeddedKafkaBroker_whenSendingtoSimpleProducer_thenMessageReceived() throws Exception {
-        producer.send(topic, "Sending with own controller");
+        producer.send(topic, "Sending with our own simple KafkaProducer");
         consumer.getLatch().await(10000, TimeUnit.MILLISECONDS);
         
         assertThat(consumer.getLatch().getCount(), equalTo(0L));
diff --git a/spring-kafka/src/test/java/com/baeldung/kafka/testcontainers/KafkaTestContainersIntegrationTest.java b/spring-kafka/src/test/java/com/baeldung/kafka/testcontainers/KafkaTestContainersIntegrationTest.java
index cf941b770f..972b6cce4d 100644
--- a/spring-kafka/src/test/java/com/baeldung/kafka/testcontainers/KafkaTestContainersIntegrationTest.java
+++ b/spring-kafka/src/test/java/com/baeldung/kafka/testcontainers/KafkaTestContainersIntegrationTest.java
@@ -12,8 +12,6 @@ import org.apache.kafka.clients.consumer.ConsumerConfig;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.producer.ProducerConfig;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.StringDeserializer;
 import org.apache.kafka.common.serialization.StringSerializer;
-import org.junit.AfterClass;
-import org.junit.BeforeClass;
 import org.junit.ClassRule;
 import org.junit.Test;
 import org.junit.runner.RunWith;
@@ -59,16 +57,6 @@ public class KafkaTestContainersIntegrationTest {
     @Value("${test.topic}")
     private String topic;
 
-    @BeforeClass
-    public static void setUpBeforeClass() throws Exception {
-        kafka.start();
-    }
-
-    @AfterClass
-    public static void tearDownAfterClass() throws Exception {
-        kafka.stop();
-    }
-
     @Test
     public void givenKafkaDockerContainer_whenSendingtoDefaultTemplate_thenMessageReceived() throws Exception {
         template.send(topic, "Sending with default template");