The research consists of two steps with the goal to investigate the relationship between meat species (mutton, goat, beef and rabbit) in prerigor and postrigor stages in respect to emulsification capacity (EC), water-holding capacity (WHC) and cooking loss (CL) parameters and the effect of rigor state of species on these parameters. For this purpose, immediately after slaughter and deboning, meat parts were assigned to both pre- and postrigor analyses. Tissue was ground, and then mixed to obtain homogeneous meat batches. Prerigor analyses were conducted in less than 90 min following slaughtering and deboning processes. Postrigor analyses were conducted after remaining meat parts were held for 24 h at 2C. The results showed that mutton and goat meats have higher EC and WHC values in both the pre- and postrigor stages. The rigor state of meat species affected significantly (P < 0.05) the pH, EC and WHC values. The prerigor stage of mutton and goat meat had the most desirable characteristics for emulsion-type meat products. © 2006, Blackwell Publishing.