The paper presents an analysis of the physical and chemical parameters determining the state of water in musculus longissimus dorsi and musculus semimembranosus pork and beef muscles in the course of the pickling process and the plasticization and pasteurization processes. Values of the relaxation times for the spin-lattice T1 and spin-spin T2, pH values, water activity, as well as the content of free water and total water content were determined. Depending on the stage of the experiment, measurements of the spin-spin relaxation times revealed the presence in the examined muscles of free and bound water fractions of various levels of mobility. It was found that the massaging process changes the proportion of the free water and bound water obtained by NMR method. But its molecular dynamics was reduced considerably. In comparison with pickling, the pasteurization process did not change the value of water activity. However, the total water content in muscles decreased, while the content of free water was found increased considerably.