Abstract: Cold plasma technology is a new non-thermal processing technology, which has been applied in many fields in the food industry at present. The technology uses the media around food to produce active substances such as photoelectrons, ions and free radicals, playing a unique role in the inhibition of microorganisms in food and the degradation of chemical pesticides. In this paper, fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh seafood, meat and poultry products, as the research and analysis object, systematically discusses the formation mechanism and technical characteristics of cold plasma, analyzes the factors that affect its sterilization efficiency and the technical conditions for improving the sterilization efficiency. On this basis, the research progress of the application of cold plasma technology in fresh fruits and vegetables, fresh seafood, meat and poultry products are summarized from the perspective of inhibiting the growth of microorganisms and maintaining the freshness of food, and the development trend of the application of cold plasma technology is prospected, which would provide reference for the application research of cold plasma technology in food industry.