Objective To understand the situation of cadmium contamination in foods sold in Shenzhen, and then provide scientific basis for taking pertinent control measures. Methods Totally 2 410 food samples which included aquatic foods, vegetables and fungus, meat and its products, etc.were collected using stratified random sampling in 2017.The contents of cadmium were detected by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and evaluated by the Food Safety National Standards for Pollutant Limits(GB 2762-2017)and the Standards Limites of Cr, Cd, Hg, As and F in Tea (NY 659-2003). Results The detection rate of cadmium was 48.7%(1 174/2 410),and the over limit rate was 7.9%(190/2 410). Among these samples, aquatic foods were the most seriously polluted and the over limit rate reached 24.0%(187/780), and the cadmium content in shellfish was significantly higher than that in other aquatic foods, with the median content of 0.340 mg/kg and the over limit rate of 34.1%(184/540). The descending order of over limit rate was fruit(1.3%,1/80), vegetables and fungus(0.7%,2/270).The differences of the over limit rate from different sources were statistically significant(P＜0.05). Conclusion There were cadmium contamination in foods sold in Shenzhen and aquatic foods were the most seriously polluted, which may provide a reference for making polices and taking effective measures for supervision.