Microbial fuel cell (MFC) was studied as an alternate and a novel way to dispose food wastes (FWs) in a waste-to-energy form. Different organic loading rate obviously affected the performance of MFCs fed with FWs. The maximum power density of similar to 18 W/m(3) (similar to 556 mW/m(2)) was obtained at COD of 3200 +/- 400 mg/L and the maximum coulombic efficiency (CE) was similar to 27.0% at COD of 4900 +/- 350 mg/L. The maximum removals of COD, total carbohydrate (TC) and total nitrogen (TN) were similar to 86.4%, similar to 95.9% and similar to 16.1%, respectively. Microbial community analysis using 454 pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA gene demonstrated the combination of the dominant genera of the exoelectrogenic Geobacter and fermentative Bacteroides effectively drove highly efficient and reliable MFC systems with functions of organic matters degradation and electricity generation. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.