Food pollution and corruption caused by microorganisms are two major problems facing the global food industry， and also the focus of governments on food quality and safety and food supply security. Accurate and rapid monitoring of microbial contamination in food is of great significance to reduce food waste and foodborne disease outbreaks. Molecularly imprinted polymers(MIPs) have been widely used in the detection of food spoilage bacteria and pathogenic microorganisms due to their easy preparation， high specificity and stable performance. In this paper， the synthetic methods of microbial molecularly imprinted polymers， including emulsion polymerization， electrochemical polymerization and microcontact imprinting method， are reviewed. The research achievements of MIPs-based detection methods， such as fluorescence， electrochemical sensors， surface plasmon resonance， quartz crystal microbalance， and resonance light scattering， are introduced in the detection of food spoilage bacteria and pathogenic microorganisms. The application prospect and development direction of this technology are also prospected.