Meat has high nutritional value, but it is prone to spoilage during processing, storage and transportation. Thus, it is necessary to monitor the freshness of meat products in real time and quickly detect unqualified meat products. In recent years, the development of intelligent packaging materials to evaluate the freshness of meat products in real time has attracted extensive attention, and intelligent hydrogels have become a research hotspot. In order to provide technical support for the application of intelligent hydrogels in meat products, this paper summarizes the preparation methods of hydrogels, reviews the current status of the application and development of intelligent hydrogels in meat freshness monitoring, and gives an outlook on future trends in this field.