Resonance energy transfer(RET) is a process of non-radiative energy transfer occurring between energy transfer donor and energy transfer acceptor.The energy transfer efficiency of RET is very sensitive to changes in the distance between energy transfer donor and energy transfer acceptor,which thus could be used to develop new optical biosensors.Compared with traditional biosensors,RET-based biosensors could be used to significantly simplify the detection procedure by eliminating steps such as washing and separating excess markers.The new biosensing analysis technology based on RET have attracted more and more attention in the fields of medical diagnosis,life science research,environmental monitoring and food safety due to its high sensitivity,easy operation and rapidness.Based on the difference of energy transfer donors,the RET is divided into three types in this article,i.e.fluorescence resonance energy transfer(FRET),bioluminescence resonance energy transfer(BRET) and chemiluminescence resonance energy transfer(CRET).By far,the application of FRET is the most common,whose development has gone through several stages.Meanwhile,the luminescent materials of FRET are further divided into organic fluorescent dyes,quantum dots(QDs),noble metal nanomaterials and up-conversion nanoparticles(UCNPs) in order,and typical application pairs are selected respectively.In addition,their advantages and disadvantages are summarized and compared.Compared with FRET,BRET and CRET do not require excitation of external light,so they can avoid many side-effects caused by external light,greatly reducing background interference and “false positive” problems.The research progresses of biosensors based on the above three types of RET in food safety detection are summarized in this article,and their application prospects and development trends are also anticipated.