Terralign / about
People who know food packaging.
Terralign brings technical packaging experience to material choices, supplier proposals and questions about pack performance or market requirements.
The team
More than 40 years in food packaging.
Peter Stevenson leads Terralign’s technical work. His experience covers food-packaging structures, barrier performance and R&D, including the questions that arise when a material must suit a particular food and packing process.
Terralign is a father-and-son business working from Sydney and Vancouver. We take on remote projects for food businesses elsewhere, agreeing the markets to be covered before a review begins.
Peter Stevenson / technical lead
Peter Stevenson
Peter has worked in food packaging since 1985, across the materials, equipment and handling conditions that determine whether a pack can do its job.
He began as a seafood technologist at Tasmania’s Department of Sea Fisheries, researching post-harvest quality, modified-atmosphere packaging (MAP) and shelf life. He later established an R&D and manufacturing business at High Tech Fabrics and invented a packaging product for moisture and temperature control in meat, poultry and seafood. At Dunedin Technologies in Scotland, he continued developing absorbent and refrigerant packaging.
His work at CVP, Van Leer Australia, Vertex Packaging, Sealed Air Australia, Sydney Fish Market and Pro Pac Group covered MAP materials, retort and shelf-stable formats, seafood packaging, product design, supplier development and technical support. He has worked with processors and manufacturers to take material ideas through trials and into commercial supply, and to resolve quality and performance problems.
In the US, Peter worked with Eco Food Pak on the details that decide whether a material will work for a customer: matching packaging to the food, packing equipment and distribution route; evaluating materials on customer equipment; coordinating suppliers and equipment manufacturers; and investigating performance issues. His remit included barrier and processor trays, absorbent materials and lidding films.
Peter leads technical reviews and packaging R&D. He examines films, barrier structures, thermoformed packs, MAP, trays and lidding in the context of the food and packing line. His reviews identify which options warrant trials, what the available data supports and what still needs to be confirmed before a production decision.
Ben Stevenson / research & client projects
Ben Stevenson
Ben works with clients to define the packaging question, then investigates the materials, formats and market conditions that shape the answer. He studies how films and pack structures work, compares supplier information and performance data, and explains the options in terms a customer can use.
His current work includes research into compostable coffee cups for the US market. It brings together material performance, recyclability and compostability claims, and extended producer responsibility rules that can differ between jurisdictions. Ben makes clear what the documents support and what still needs testing or specialist review.
He also leads client conversations, coordinates projects and develops Terralign’s business and marketing materials.
Packaging development
Looking beyond the current pack.
New materials interest us most when they have a real application. We follow developments in coatings, resins and film structures, then consider where they could help with a particular food, packing process or market requirement.
Ben researches the available technologies and possible applications. Peter examines the material and production questions that would need answering. If an idea looks worth pursuing, we can help shape a development brief, identify suppliers to speak with and set out the tests or line trials needed to assess it.
Our position
Independent of material suppliers.
Your product and packing process guide the review. We consider supplier information in that context and disclose any commercial relationship relevant to a recommendation.
When we help find materials, you buy directly from the supplier. We agree a separate fee for our search and technical assessment before starting, and disclose any supplier relationship or payment relevant to our recommendation.
How we work
A review begins with the application.
We ask what the food needs from its pack, how it is filled and sealed, and where it will be sold. From there we examine the documents available and explain which conclusions they support. If a supplier has not provided the right test conditions or a change needs a production trial, that belongs in the written answer too.
Before work starts, we agree what the review will cover and what you will receive.
Work with Terralign
Have a food-packaging question?
Describe the pack and the decision you are facing. We will suggest a sensible scope for the work.