Antibacterial peptides have unique antibacterial mechanisms different from antibiotics, which are safe and less likely to cause bacterial resistance. Antibacterial peptides have significant advantages and extremely broad application prospects, which have the potential to become one of the widely used antimicrobial substances in the food industry. Currently, Nisin is allowed as food preservative. However, the promotion and application of antimicrobial peptides are still limited by high production costs, single antibacterial activity, and poor stability. The use of compound preservative technology and coating preservation technology can effectively improve the antibacterial efficiency by combining antimicrobial peptides with other natural preservatives. In addition, recombinant expression technology is the most economically valuable and scientifically effective way to achieve large-scale production of antimicrobial peptides, and the stability of antimicrobial peptides can be achieved through artificial intelligence design and optimization of their structure. This review summarizes the current application status and biosynthesis research progress of antimicrobial peptides in the food industry, and puts forward thoughts and suggestions on the existing problems and research prospects.