For a better understanding of the existing condition of food science discipline， a bibliometrics approach was used to analyze the publication amount， countries/ territories， institutes， source journals and the research hotspots of highly cited papers from 2009 to 2018. The results showed that China’s highly cited papers had been ranked first in the world， but judging from the total cited times and average cited times， the influence and quality of Chinese papers still lagged far behind that of the United States. China’s influence in the formation of international science and technology cooperation network was also far less than that of the United States. Among the top 20 research institutes with highly cited papers， Chinese institutes had occupied the largest number of seats， reaching five seats， but each of them had the phenomenon of low total cited times and average cited times. At present， the development of food science shows a trend of interdisciplinary integration， and the research hotspots around the world mainly focus on the bioactivity and mechanism of food effective components， new nutrient delivery systems （microcapsules， nanocapsules and emulsion systems）， intestinal microbes， stability of ingredients， food packaging and shelf life. The research fields between China and the USA， as well as China’s five superiority research institutions， are distinctive and distinctly different.