Abstract Food safety as a huge world public health threat has attracted more and more attentions. The effective detection methods are of great importance for guarding food safety. However, the development of reliable and efficient detection methods has been a challenging task due to the complexity of food matrices and trace level of food contaminants. Recently, the emerging nanomaterials with mimetic enzyme activity, namely nanozymes, have been employed for novel biosensor development, which has greatly accelerated the advancement of food safety assay. In this review, we summarize the mechanism and advances on nanozymes-based biosensors including colorimetric biosensors, fluorescence biosensors, chemiluminescent biosensors, electrochemical biosensors, SERS-based biosensors, and other biosensors. Impressively, the applications of nanozymes-based biosensors in food safety screening have also been comprehensively summarized (including mycotoxins, antibiotics, pesticides, pathogens, intentional adulteration, metal ions, and others). In the end, future opportunities and challenges in this promising field are tentatively proposed.