The invention discloses a method for detecting mercury content of beef, and comprises the following steps: mixing a diethyl ether solution of diphenylcarbazide and a aqueous solution of emulsifier OP in proportion, dipping with a middling speed quantitative filter paper, and preparing a test paper; adjusting pH value of a 1000 mu g/mL standard mercury solution with a HCl solution to 6.0, adding water for diluting, till the mercury content of the solution is 0.5 mu g/mL, placing the solution into a test paper, carrying out color developing, shooting and processing, and forming a paper standard color interval; weighing and fragmenting a beef sample, adding a 10% HCl solution, carrying out microwave digestion and centrifugation, fetching a supernatant, adjusting the pH value to 6.0, carrying out a vacuum concentration of the supernatant, till the weight of the supernatant is 1/10 of the weight of the beef sample, placing the supernatant into the test paper, carrying out color developing and shooting, comparing the test paper color developing depth with the standard color interval, and determining whether the mercury content is exceeding the standard. The detection method provided by the invention has the advantages of easy operation and high sensitivity, can be used as a primary screening for judging whether the mercury content is exceeding the standard, and is suitable for factory production quality inspection.