As an important research direction of food sector, shelf life prediction has become a hot topic worldwide. The related research literatures were summarized, the research mechanism and research progress of food shelf life prediction were reviewed, and the related research ideas and research methods were clarified. Five types of research methods were analyzed and compared, including the method based on chemical kinetics, the method based on growth kinetics of microbial, the method of back propagation (BP) neural networks, the method of Weibull hazard analysis and the method based on temperature such as Q10 model. Quality indexes and research models used in different kinds of foods’ shelf life prediction, such as meat, aquatic product, fruits and vegetables, which were proved to be available to achieve good results, were summarized. Finally, the status of food shelf life prediction research was analyzed and its development tendency was presented in the respects of research mechanism, study object and its surroundings, research applications and dynamic monitoring. Analysis indicates that food shelf life prediction tends to be more accurate and utility.