Abstract: Fermented food is an important part of human diet,thus it is far-reaching significance to fully explore the microbial resources and promote the quality of fermented foods via thoroughly studying the microbial community structures,metabolisms and activity. With the advent of the post-genomics era,the rapid development of sequencing technology and the reduction of its cost,meta-omics mainly based on metagenomics,metatranscriptomics,metaproteomics and metabolomics has been applied to the diversity,structure and potential gene functions of microbial communities,laying a foundation for studying potential molecular mechanisms of fermented foods. This paper summarizes the techniques of meta-omics（metagenomics,metatranscriptomics,metaproteomics and metabolomics）used in fermented foods. Subsequently,the paper reviews the meta-omics study on the structure and function of microbial communities in cheese,fermented alcoholic beverages,fermented vegetables,fermented tea,fermented soy products and vinegar environment,and reveals rich sources of valuable genes and bioactive substances in fermented foods. It also briefly outlines the advantages of these technologies and the shortcomings of them at current stage,aiming at providing a reference for future research and industrial production of fermented foods.

Key words: meta-omics, fermented food, microbial community