Abstract: As a new type of fluorescent nanomaterial, carbon dots (CDs) possess a number of unique optical properties. Compared with semiconductor quantum dots, some advantages of CDs, including lower toxicity, higher biocompatibility, higher photostability and stronger anti-photobleaching effect, are attractive in various fields. Interestingly, increasing attention is attracted to the detection of heavy metals, antibiotics, pathogenic bacteria, pesticide residues and banned additives, and nutritional and functional components in foodsusing CDs nowadays. Recently, the synthesis and optical properties of CDs have been reviewedmany researchers, but there are few reviews that focus on the application of CDs in food detection. This article briefly reviews the optical properties and synthesis of CDs, with emphasis on its applications in food detection. Meanwhile, the future trend of carbon dots is also discussed.

Key words: carbon dots, optical properties, heavy metals, antibiotics, pathogenic bacteria