Curdlan is a kind of a microbial extracellular exopolysaccharide, which has been widely used in the field of meat processing and preservation due to its good thickening, water retention, gelation and film formation properties. This paper reviews the functional properties of curdlan, focusing on the effect of curdlan on the quality characteristics of meat and meat products and the mechanism of improving the quality of meat products, finally, summarizes the fresh-keeping effect of different types of edible composite films prepared from curdlan in meat foods, in order to provide a theoretical reference for the wide application of curdlan in the processing and preservation of meat foods.