Initially, before using Apache Kafka for message queue dependency and configuration, the class needs to be specified. The following Maven starter dependency needs to be included:

<dependencies>
   <dependency>
      <groupId>org.springframework.kafka</groupId>
      <artifactId>spring-kafka</artifactId>
      <version>2.1.7.RELEASE</version>
   </dependency>
</dependencies>

The preceding entries will import all the dependencies of Spring Kafka, which can be used to produce to and consume from Apache Kafka topics.