In the present work, it was attempted to produce $H_2$ from food waste by the two-stage fermentation system. Food waste was acidified to lactate by using indigenous lactic acid bacteria under mesophilic condition, and the lactate fermentation effluent (LFE) was subsequently converted to $H_2$ by photo-fermentation. $Rhodobacter$ $sphaeroides$ KD131 was used as the photo-fermenting bacteria. The optimal conditions for lactate fermentation were found to be pH of 5.5 and substrate concentration of 30 g Carbo. COD/L, under which yielded 1.6 mol lactate/mol glucose. By filtering the LFE and adding trace metal, $H_2$ production increased by more than three times compared to using raw LFE, and finally reached the $H_2$ yield of 3.6 mol $H_2$/mol lactate. Via the developed two-stage fermentation system $H_2$ yield of 5.8 mol $H_2$/mol glucose was achieved from food waste, whose value was the highest that ever recorded.