Trophic interactions, from predation to pollination, can disperse microorganisms throughout natural systems and built environments. Accounting for consumer-mediated dispersal of microbiota across the spectrum of trophic interactions will advance theory and experimentation in key areas of microbiology and ecology, including community assembly processes and food web theory. Predation, herbivory, and parasitism are generally considered to be antagonistic in their effects on resource species (e.g., prey). Yet resource species can indirectly benefit from these interactions via increased access to symbiotic microbiota, suppression of competitor species, and potentially, acclimatization to changing environments. Traits of microorganisms and consumers mediate successful trophic transmission in space and time and can be leveraged in applications from medicine to agriculture to ecosystem restoration.