Risk-benefit assessment， originated from economics， is a professional assessment method to evaluate the possibility of risk and benefit in an event. Risk assessment model is the first introduced in the food industry. After decades of development， food risk assessment has been gradually formed at home and abroad， but food benefit assessment started relatively late. This paper summarizes the origin of food benefit risk assessment， the theory and method of model construction， introduces the typical research and application of food benefit risk assessment at home and abroad， and makes a preliminary outlook on its development trend. By analyzing the risk and benefit of food， this paper aims to find an optimal balance point， comprehensively and objectively evaluate agricultural products and food， so as to help the government make reasonable policy decisions and guide the public to rational and healthy consumption.