Abstract: The 3-chloropropanol ester in food could be hydrolyzed into free 3-chloropropanol in human bodies and affect human health, which has become one of the food safety issues of general concern in the world. This article mainly summarizes several generation pathways of 3-chloropropanol ester, including chloride ion direct nucleophilic attack pathway, cyclic oxonium ion intermediate pathway and glycidyl ester intermediate pathway, epoxide ring free radical pathway. 3-chloropropanol ester is mainly affected by heating temperature and time, pH value, water content, sodium chloride content and metal ions. Finally, it is proposed that the content of 3-chloropropanol ester in food could be controlled by the two processes of refining vegetable oil and food processing. On the basis of this, the future research direction is prospected on 3-chloropropanol esters in food.