diff --git a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/utils/Utils.scala b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/utils/Utils.scala
index 63076219dfe..a14393c73bf 100644
--- a/core/src/main/scala/kafka/utils/Utils.scala
+++ b/core/src/main/scala/kafka/utils/Utils.scala
@@ -597,44 +597,72 @@ object Utils extends Logging {
 
   def getTopicRetentionHours(retentionHours: String) : Map[String, Int] = {
     val exceptionMsg = "Malformed token for topic.log.retention.hours in server.properties: "
-    val successMsg =  "The retention hour for "
-    getCSVMap(retentionHours, exceptionMsg, successMsg)
+    val successMsg =  "The retention hours for "
+    val map: Map[String, Int] = getCSVMap(retentionHours, exceptionMsg, successMsg)
+    map.foreach{case(topic, hrs) =>
+                  require(hrs > 0, "Log retention hours value for topic " + topic + " is " + hrs +
+                                   " which is not greater than 0.")}
+    map
   }
 
   def getTopicRollHours(rollHours: String) : Map[String, Int] = {
     val exceptionMsg = "Malformed token for topic.log.roll.hours in server.properties: "
-    val successMsg =  "The roll hour for "
-    getCSVMap(rollHours, exceptionMsg, successMsg)
+    val successMsg =  "The roll hours for "
+    val map: Map[String, Int] = getCSVMap(rollHours, exceptionMsg, successMsg)
+    map.foreach{case(topic, hrs) =>
+                  require(hrs > 0, "Log roll hours value for topic " + topic + " is " + hrs +
+                                   " which is not greater than 0.")}
+    map
   }
 
   def getTopicFileSize(fileSizes: String): Map[String, Int] = {
     val exceptionMsg = "Malformed token for topic.log.file.size in server.properties: "
-    val successMsg =  "The roll hour for "
-    getCSVMap(fileSizes, exceptionMsg, successMsg)
+    val successMsg =  "The log file size for "
+    val map: Map[String, Int] = getCSVMap(fileSizes, exceptionMsg, successMsg)
+    map.foreach{case(topic, size) =>
+                  require(size > 0, "Log file size value for topic " + topic + " is " + size +
+                                   " which is not greater than 0.")}
+    map
   }
 
   def getTopicRetentionSize(retentionSizes: String): Map[String, Long] = {
     val exceptionMsg = "Malformed token for topic.log.retention.size in server.properties: "
-    val successMsg =  "The roll hour for "
-    getCSVMap(retentionSizes, exceptionMsg, successMsg)
+    val successMsg =  "The log retention size for "
+    val map: Map[String, Long] = getCSVMap(retentionSizes, exceptionMsg, successMsg)
+    map.foreach{case(topic, size) =>
+                 require(size > 0, "Log retention size value for topic " + topic + " is " + size +
+                                   " which is not greater than 0.")}
+    map
   }
 
   def getTopicFlushIntervals(allIntervals: String) : Map[String, Int] = {
     val exceptionMsg = "Malformed token for topic.flush.Intervals.ms in server.properties: "
     val successMsg =  "The flush interval for "
-    getCSVMap(allIntervals, exceptionMsg, successMsg)
+    val map: Map[String, Int] = getCSVMap(allIntervals, exceptionMsg, successMsg)
+    map.foreach{case(topic, interval) =>
+                  require(interval > 0, "Flush interval value for topic " + topic + " is " + interval +
+                                        " ms which is not greater than 0.")}
+    map
   }
 
   def getTopicPartitions(allPartitions: String) : Map[String, Int] = {
     val exceptionMsg = "Malformed token for topic.partition.counts in server.properties: "
     val successMsg =  "The number of partitions for topic  "
-    getCSVMap(allPartitions, exceptionMsg, successMsg)
+    val map: Map[String, Int] = getCSVMap(allPartitions, exceptionMsg, successMsg)
+    map.foreach{case(topic, count) =>
+                  require(count > 0, "The number of partitions for topic " + topic + " is " + count +
+                                     " which is not greater than 0.")}
+    map
   }
 
   def getConsumerTopicMap(consumerTopicString: String) : Map[String, Int] = {
     val exceptionMsg = "Malformed token for embeddedconsumer.topics in consumer.properties: "
-    val successMsg =  "The number of consumer thread for topic  "
-    getCSVMap(consumerTopicString, exceptionMsg, successMsg)
+    val successMsg =  "The number of consumer threads for topic  "
+    val map: Map[String, Int] = getCSVMap(consumerTopicString, exceptionMsg, successMsg)
+    map.foreach{case(topic, count) =>
+                  require(count > 0, "The number of consumer threads for topic " + topic + " is " + count +
+                                     " which is not greater than 0.")}
+    map
   }
 
   def getObject[T<:AnyRef](className: String): T = {