Abstract: Heavy metal pollution has been one of the main factors affecting the quality of food in China. The pollution limit standards of food were made to ensure the quality safety of food. In this paper, maximum limit standards of heavy metals in major foods, the pollution situation and the conventional detection methods of heavy metals in China were introduced. Then, rapid detection technologies of heavy metals including reagent colorimetric, rapid detection strip, electrochemical technology and enzymatic inhibition were reviewed. At last, countermeasures including strictly controlling sources of heavy metals and strengthening management; improving the research of the rapid detection technologies and methods, enhancing the supervision of government management departments and introducing the food risk assessment system of heavy metals were proposed to provide references for detection, supervise and management of heavy metals in food in China.