Phthalate acid esters in food and food packaging materials were extracted by ultrasonic extraction and determined by ultraviolet-visible light spectrophotometer (λ-max=227 nm). The results showed that PAEs were detected in samples universally, and the content range was (0~1 308.88) mg/kg; the PAEs content of foods in plastic packaging materials was higher than that in no-plastic packaging materials; and the PAEs content was high too in fat-rich foods. It was concluded that the contamination of PAEs in foods mainly comes from food packaging materials, and high lipid is one of the most important factor of increasing PAEs in food.