The three principal aims of this substantial volume are to define standardised patterns of meat cutting and ethnic variations, to provide a ready-reference to the mainstream muscle foods available commercially or being developed scientifically around the world, and to help explain the properties of different meat cuts and muscle foods in terms of meat quality. This book provides a guide to many of the myriad of meat cuts and muscle foods now widely available internationally. Cutting patterns for beef, pork, lamb, game, poultry and fish are featured, plus a number of invertebrates such as crabs, lobsters, shrimps, squid and scallop that also produce striated muscle. Wholesale and retail meat cuts are described and cross-referenced - many being clearly illustrated and labelled - so that the reader may start with a country, or with the name of a specific meat cut to find the country of origin. In addition, the key scientific concepts required in understanding food myosystems are briefly outlined.