People increase the amount of reactive nitrogen (Nr) in the environment as a result of the food they produce and consume. However, understanding of the factors controlling nitrogen (N) flows and environmental costs of food production and consumption is still limited. Here we combine a nitrogen footprint tool, the N-Calculator, with a food chain model, NUFER (NUtrient flows in Food chains, Environment and Resources use), to analyze the N footprint of food in China. The food N footprint consists of the food consumption N footprint and food production N footprint. The average per capita food N footprint increased from 4.7 kg N capita<sup>-1</sup> yr<sup>-1</sup> in the 1960s to 21.3 kg N capita<sup>-1</sup> yr<sup>-1</sup> in the 2000s. The proportion of animal-derived food N footprint increased from 37% to 54% during this period. The food production N footprint accounted for 84% of the national N footprint in the 2000s (compared to 62% in the 1960s). The increasing VNFs in China indicates that an increasing amount of Nr is being lost for the production of a certain amount of food N in the past five decades. National N losses from food production increased from 6 MT N yr<sup>-1</sup> in the 1960s to 23 MT N yr<sup>-1</sup> in the 2000s. The largest losses of N were due to ammonia (NH<sub>3</sub>) emissions and dinitrogen (N<sub>2</sub>) emissions through denitrification (each account for nearly 40%), followed by N losses to water systems (20%). The average per capita food N footprint in China is relatively high compared with those of developed countries in the 2000s. To reduce the food N footprint in China, it is important to both reduce the Nr losses during food production and encourage diets with lower consumption N footprint.