Optical biosensors based on surface plasmon resonance are increasingly used to detect and (semi)quantify residues and contaminants in food. This review provides an overview of the methods published in this field since the year 2003. Such biosensors have mostly been applied to veterinary drug residues, like aminoglycosides, beta-agonists, cephalexin, chloramphenicol, fluoroquinolones, levamisole, nicarbazin, nitroimidazoles, penicillins, ractopamine, sulfonamides, tetracyclines, and tylosin in milk, egg, honey, prawn, muscle, liver and kidney. Only a few methods have been published on pesticide residues, mycotoxins, phycotoxins, polychlorinated biphenyls and surfactants. These procedures are described with regard to biological recognition element, type of sensor chip, immobilisation procedure, sample extraction and clean-up, crossreactivity, nonspecific binding, matrix interference, chip regeneration, assay formats, calibration, validation and instrumentation.