Food safety is a major and enduring challenge and has a profound impact on the quality of human life. Loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) is a relatively novel gene amplification method under isothermal conditions with rapidity, simplicity and high specificity. This review will describe the principles and development of the LAMP technique along with its advantages and disadvantages, such as LAMP integrated on classical microfluidic chips, paper-chips, electrochemical devices, nanomaterials and digital devices. Moreover, we will systematically and comprehensively review its applications in the field of food safety, such as in the detection of foodborne pathogens, allergens and organophosphorus pesticides and genetically modified organisms; finally its development trends in food safety will be discussed.