The food safety assessment of transgenic organisms has been a world wide concerned issue.Although there are some limitations,the principle of substantial equivalence is widely applied in the assessment of novel food derived from transgenic orga nisms.Many kinds of transgenic food have been assessed,such as potato,soybean,tomato,cotton,rice,squash,tobacco,and asparagus.The methods,principles and results of food safety assessment are discussed in this paper,as well as the potential problems.The progress and problems for the safety assessment of food derived from transgenic organisms are reported in a relatively comprehensive and objective manner.