Abstract: The invention concerns a method and apparatus for severing the jowl muscles of a half pig's head, in order to facilitate subsequent boning of the half head to provide bone and pig's head meat as the end product.For this purpose, in one embodiment of the invention, the half pig's head (19) is placed on a moving conveyor (11) comprising a series of stainless steel plates (12), the half head being held securely in a predetermined position by a locating and supporting means (13 to 18) welded to the plate (12). The half head so held is presented by the conveyor to a fixed wedge member (20) pointing in the opposite direction to that of the conveyor movement, the wedge member acting to force the jaws of the half head progressively further apart to sever the jowl muscles.Preferably, the outer skin or rind of the half head is removed before the latter is placed on the conveyor.