Abstract: Nowadays, the study on the migration of poisonous and harmful substances in metal packaging materials for food is rare, in this paper, the potential situation about the migration in metal packaging materials was introduced, and the latent migrants like heavy metal, bisphenol diglycidyl ethers, melamine and their current researches were recommended intensively. Moreover, the general research processes about the migration of chemicals in metal packaging materials were analyzed, which provided a references to the further studies of the migration of harmful substances in metal cans and the management of HACCP in the industry of food packaging.