In today's society, the importance of shelf life is indisputable in all aspects of food industry including manufacture, processing, storage, distribution, sale and consumption. However, there is no general method to predict the shelf life of different kinds of food, because the products own properties, different processing and storage conditions will affect the safety and quality of food. This paper reviewed the relevant standards and regulations of food shelf-life in China and aboard, summarized the shelf-life prediction methods, models and examples based on the quality decay principle of dynamics of chemical quality, microbial growth kinetics and sensory prediction, and analyzed the existing problems of the prediction models in China based on the previous research. We hope this paper will provide certain basis for the evaluation, design and verification of food manufacturers' shelf-life.