To understand the current status of sulfur dioxide in herbal health foods.Methods97samples were collected and the sulfur dioxide residue were detected by steam distillation-ion chromatography method. The distribution of sulfur dioxide residue was compared by χ²analysis. ResultsThe level of sulfur dioxide were mostly less than 30.0mg/kg (accounting for 88.7% of the samples ) and there were four samples whose sulfur dioxide residues exceeding 150mg/kg. The distribution of sulfur dioxide residue had a significant difference in different products of herbal health foods (χ²=9.952, P<0.05).ConclusionThere was a certain degree of sulfur dioxide residues in herbal health foods, which should arouse concerns of regulatory authorities.