Cold plasma (CP) is a new type of non-thermal processing technology， which mainly uses a large number of free radicals generated by ionized gas or reactive oxygen species and active nitrogen generated after reaction with water to directly or indirectly oxidize proteins， starches， lipids and other components in food， resulting in changes in the structure and functional properties of food components to realize the control of food quality. In this paper， the principle of CP technology， the chemical modification mechanism of macromolecules such as protein， carbohydrate and lipid， as well as the further regulation of food quality were reviewed， in order to provide theoretical reference for CP processing of food.