ε-Poly-L-lysine (ε-PL) is a new natural food preservative approved by our country since 2014. It has attracted extensive attention from the food industry due to its excellent characteristics， such as wide antibacterial spectrum， good water solubility， high safety， high temperature resistance and good stability. Thus， ε-PL has become a key natural food preservative instead of chemical food preservatives. This review is firstly introduced ε-PL's physicochemical and biological properties and microbial production methods. Then， the worldwide achievements of ε-PL's antimicrobial mechanisms and applications in food industry in recent decade years are systematically reviewed. Finally， the future research on ε-PL is prospected based on the analysis of the application bottleneck of ε-PL in food industry. It is expected that this review provide references for the wide use of ε-PL in China's food industry.