The book was written by Meng Shen during the Chang'an period of the Tang Dynasty (701-704), Zhang Ding later supplemented it during the Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty (721-739) (according to the Jiayou Materia Medica cited in the transmitted records, this book was originally written by Meng Shen as the Supplemental Nourishment Formulas, and later revised by Zhang Ding between the 9th and 27th years of the Kaiyuan era, focusing on food-based medicinal treatments, and renamed Shiliao Bencao. Meng's original work included 138 types of materia medica, and Zhang added 89 entries, totaling 227 entries).

Shiliao Bencao consists of three volumes, but the original manuscript no longer exists. Its fragments are scattered in works such as Zhenglei Bencao and Ishinpo. In 1907, during the Guangxu period of the Qing Dynasty, the British explorer Stein discovered a fragment of an ancient manuscript of this book in the Mogao Caves of Dunhuang, containing entries for 26 medicinal substances from pomegranate to taro, now housed in the British Museum in London. In 1930, Japanese scholar Nakao Manzo examined and collated the text, publishing it under the title Shiliao Bencao Investigation. The book is divided into two parts, containing 241 types of medicinal substances, making it the earliest modern compilation. Later, Xie Haizhou and others re-examined the scattered fragments of Shiliao Bencao and reconstructed the text. The reconstructed version, divided into three volumes, includes 260 medicinal substances, consolidates similar entries, corrects errors, and was published by the People's Medical Publishing House in 1984.

This work is a materia medica text, rich in content and practical in its medicinal applications. It is a comprehensive nutritional and dietary therapy monograph from the Tang Dynasty, recording many food-based medicines not found in earlier Tang materia medica texts. The book organizes entries by category, analyzes the properties of foods, discusses their functions, records contraindications, distinguishes similarities and differences, and includes simple prescriptions. The listed dietary medicines mostly consist of commonly consumed foods, pickles, fruits, meats, etc., reflecting the philosophy of nourishing organs through food and organ-based therapy.