Abstract:Carbon dots as an emerging carbon nanomaterials， due to its special optical and electronic proper－ ties，quantum size effect， low toxicity and good biocompatibility， since their initial discovery， have attracted considerable attention， became a hotspot of the materials， physics and chemistry， and showed good potential application in many areas such as sensing， imaging， analysis， catalysis. In this review， we described the recent progress in the field of carbon dots， introduced their optical property and applications in food detection， summa－ rized the exiting problems in the development， and looked forward their prospect in the future.