This publication contains the proceedings of a seminar 'The problems of dark-cutting in beef' held by the Commission of the European Communities (CEC) at the Commission in Brussels on 7 and 8 October 1980. As part of the CEC programme of coordination of agricultural research, this meeting was organised in the framework of the beef and animal welfare activities by Dr. D.E. Hood and Dr. P.V. Tarrant, Meat Research Department, An Faras Taluntais. Dunsinea, Castleknock, Dublin, Ireland. The proceedings, edited by the organisers assisted by Janssen Services, 33a, High Street, Chislehurst, Kent, UK, provide an authoritative text-book on this important aspect of meat technology. Reduction of pre-slaughter stress and improvement in carcass and meat quality is becoming increasingly important in the international meat trade. This results in particular from growing consumer concern about the welfare of meat animals during the pre-slaughter period and from specific meat packaging and marketing requirements. Technical development of the beef processing industry is dependent on a uniformly high level of meat quality in the raw material.