Organic loading rate (OLR) disturbances were introduced into a mesophilic anaerobic digester treating food waste (FW) to induce stable and deteriorative phases. The microbial community of each phase was investigated using 454-pyrosequencing. Results show that the relative abundance of acid-producing bacteria and syntrophic volatile fatty acid (VFA) oxidizers increased dramatically at deteriorative phase, while the dominant methanogens did not shift from acetoclastic to hydrogenotrophic groups. The mismatching between bacteria and methanogens may partially be responsible for the process deterioration. Moreover, the succession of predominant hydrogenotrophic methanogens reduced the consumption efficiency of hydrogen; meanwhile, the dominant Methanosaeta with low acetate degradation rate, and the increase of inhibitors concentrations further decreased its activity, which may be the other causes for the process failure. These results improve the understanding of the microbial mechanisms of process instability, and provide theoretical basis for the efficient and stable operation of anaerobic digester treating FW. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.