Content: Meat and Muscle Composition: Structure of Muscle, Chemical and Biochemical Constitution of Muscle, Nutritional Value. Species and Breed Characteristics Veronique Sante-Lhoutellier and Edward Pospiech Meat Quality of Slaughter Animals Phillip E. Strydom, Danuta Jaworska, and Danuta Kolozyn-Krajewska Conversion of Muscle to Meat Qingwu W. Shen and Min Du Impact of Animal Nutrition on Muscle Composition and Meat Quality Eric N. Ponnampalam, Benjamin W.B. Holman, and Joseph P. Kerry Terms of Farming and Animal Welfare and Meat Quality Roman Kolacz and Robert Kupczynski Preslaughter Handling, Welfare of Animals, and Meat Quality Temple Grandin Stress Reactivity, Stress at Slaughter, and Meat Quality Claudia E.M. Terlouw Slaughter-Line Operations and Their Effects on Meat Quality Wieslaw Przybylski, Joe M. Regenstein, and Andrzej Zybert Breeding Strategies for Improving Meat Quality Suzanne I. Mortimer and Wieslaw Przybylski Influence of Major Genes on Meat Quality Nicola R. Lambe, Elzbieta Krzecio-Nieczyporuk, Maria Kocwin-Podsiadla, and Lutz Bunger Beef Quality Jean-Francois Hocquette, Dominique Bauchart, Didier Micol, Rod Polkingorne, and Brigitte Picard Pork Quality Andrzej Sosnicki Sheep Quality: Effect of Breed, Genetic Type, Gender, and Age on Meat Quality David L. Hopkins Transgenic Animal Technology and Meat Quality Paul E. Mozdziak and James N. Petitte Production of High-Quality Meat Brad Y.H. Kim, Heather A. Channon, Darryl N. D'Souza, and David L. Hopkins