The work aims to review the development process and predict the future trends of modified atmosphere packaging in China. The CiteSpace software was used to conduct bibliometric and visual graph analysis on 877 core journal articles indexed in the China National Knowledge Infrastructure. Subsequently, a review and summary of the significant literature within this field were conducted based on the obtained analysis results. The annual publication volume in the field of modified atmosphere packaging in China exhibits a fluctuating upward tendency and "Food Science" and "Packaging Engineering" serve as the main journals for these publications. The core author group has not yet formed among the authors. Although certain research groups has emerged among the institutions, the cooperation between these groups remains relatively limited. The research hotspots in the field of modified atmosphere packaging mainly focuses on food preservation, storage, and shelf life, and its application scope encompasses diverse categories such as fruits and vegetables, meat products, and aquatic products. In the future, this field is expected to progress in the direction of intelligence, greenness, and precision.