The invention relates to a method for Escherichia coli whole cell catalyzed production of phloretin. The synthesis method is characterized in that the production of the phloretin is completed by adopting phenylalanine as a raw material and an Escherichia coli engineering bacterium as a host bacterium through catalysis of multiple enzymes in the host bacterium; and the host bacterium at least can express phenylalnine ammonialyase, cinnamic acid-4-hydroxylase, 4-coumaric acid coenzyme A ligase, double-bond reductase and chalcone synthetase. The method has the following advantages: 1, the phenylalanine is used as the raw material, so the raw material cost of the method is low; 2, catalytic synthesis of biological enzymes in microorganisms is carried out based on microorganism modification, solarge-scale extraction, separation and purification processes are avoided, and the production cost and the environmental protection are easy to control; 3, the size and the quantity of production devices used in the method are less than those of other methods, so the method can be easily industrially converted; and 4, only the final step in the production of the method contains separation and purification processes, so the product purifying process is simple, and the product has better quality and higher content than the product obtained through general methods.