Palatability is defined as being Spleasant to the taste Meat palatability is referred to as tenderness juiciness and flavour of a cooked product. These three characteristics are what consumers desire and what the meat industry is trying to supply. Among these tenderness has been identified as the most important palatability attribute of beef. The current method of assessing tenderness by taste panels is a slow and subjective process. The objective technique using Warner Bratzler Shear Force device is a destructive method and does not provide a direct measurement of meat tenderness rather it evaluates the resistance of the meat during cutting. There is thus a clear need within the meat industry to determine ultimate meat tenderness. The positive relationship between the price of meat and its relative tenderness confirms the general willingness of consumers to pay a premium for more tender meat. Furthermore if tenderness can be determined during the conditioning phase this will enable producers to control and optimise the level of quality they can provide to the marketplace.This project will explore the exact functioning of the calpain system in the early post mortem period and its role as a predictor of ultimate beef tenderness. Final tenderness is determined by the rate and extent of post mortem proteolysis of key myofibrillar proteins. The calpain system is the principle contributor to post mortem proteolysisis and is made up of three main proteins calpain I, calpain II and calpastatin. The main objective of this project is to design and develop an analytical instrument based on a capacitive biosensor for the rapid detection of the two proteins calpain I and calpastatin The tendercheck device will allow a rapid tenderness grading with a correlation of around 80...