The paper presents an analysis of the effect of curing brine composition on the water properties in sediments from pork shank and semi-membranous muscles. The applied brines were solutions of inorganic salts of varying composition. The performed analyses comprised active acidity pH, water activity Aw, water absorbability expressed as percentage proportion of free water in the total water content, as well as the value of relaxation times spin-network T1 and spin-spin T2. An inversely proportional correlation was found between pH values and water activity in the examined muscles when brines containing sodium chloride, pyrophosphate, tripolyphosphate and a mixture of NaCl and pyrophosphate were applied. In the case of the control muscles as well as those containing a mixture of sodium chloride and tripolyphoshate, the above correlation was directly proportional. It was demonstrated that pyrophosphate, even at low pH values, signifi-cantly increased water absorbability of muscle tissue sediments. The analysis of relaxation parameters showed that pyrophosphate as a constituent of brine reduced the content of free water in relation to bound water as demonstrated by significant shortening of the spin-network relaxation time. In addition, the molecu-lar dynamics of bound water was found to be inhibited. The above observations allowed the authors to con-clude that pyrophosphate, as brine constituent, causes very good water binding in muscle tissue sediments.