Pitia PIXIS
The Company
WHO WE ARE
PIXIS is the Greek word for coagulation and is also a Greek family business based in Elassona that produces and distributes throughout Greece high quality natural animal rennet products. Although recently established, the company brings at least 40 years of family experience in the trade of animal rennet in the form of raw dried abomasums.
Our vision for years has been to create a laboratory where the high quality of the raw traditional product meets the modern methods of processing and standardization. So, driven by passion and perseverance and guided by observation and study, we have recently reached the realization of our initial conception with the establishment of the new company. We have established a modern production unit of European standards, capable, through innovative production methods, of making available to the cheese-making public almost all recognizable rennet types:
- Dried full abomasums made at ideal drying and salting conditions,
- Dried empty abomasums made at ideal drying and salting conditions,
- European-style liquid rennet,
- Traditional liquid rennet,
- Rennet paste
- Reconstituted rennet
Our upcoming projects include rennet powder and lipase.
About rennet
Rennet is a product of mainly cheese-making interest. It contains the enzymes chymosin and pepsin on which cheese-making, the processing of milk into cheese, is based. It has two properties: the hydrolysis of casein, which coagulates the milk, and the proteolytic property, which enables the cheese to ripen. Rennet is the basis of cheese-making. . For this reason, the quality of the rennet is crucial to the quality of the cheese.
PIXIS adopts the return to traditional natural rennet as the most qualitative and at the same time progressive solution for modern cheesemaking. We know that nothing can give the Greek dairy industry a greater boost than a return to the roads where Greek cheesemakers have been walking for centuries. Roads that, however well-trodden may be, will always remain unexplored and will always hide something new and original for those who find the courage to follow them. This is because they are essentially the only paths that ultimately lead to the desired outcome.
Hence, for us at PIXI there is only one rennet. And that is the natural one.
About abomasum
The abomasum is the fourth, and last, part of the stomach of the ruminant animal and constitutes the basis for the rennet production. Useful for the extraction of the rennet are only abomasums derived from young nursing animals. The enzyme is extracted from both the membrane of the abomasum and its contents.
Abomasums are slaughterhouse by-products. This means, firstly, that their availability is limited, so it is not possible to produce animal rennet in abundance. In addition, as slaughterhouse by-product, abomasums have limited uses. This is why they most often end up in slaughterhouse waste. Their use as a means of producing rennet adds value to a neglected commodity and at the same time respects the jobs of workers in the primary and manufacturing sectors. It is therefore a sustainable and environmentally friendly solution.
At PIXI, the abomasum is our only raw material. We use abomasums exclusively from lambs and goats. We obtain them from slaughterhouses in the wider area around Mount Olympus, selecting them one by one. We are particularly careful during this stage.
RELIABILITY INDICATORS
Within an extremely short period of intensive presence in the market, a number of cheese dairies all over the country have trusted our products and cooperate with our new company. Among them are small businesses and large companies. What is it that convinced them?
First and foremost, what counts in the minds of our customers is the quality of our products. This in turn is directly related to the high quality of the raw material we use, which is the abomasums from nursing lambs and mainly goats that are selected one by one. Thus, the final product has a completely pure and natural origin, unlike the various substitutes for rennet, mainly of microbial origin, which dominate the market.
Our customers also attach special emphasis to the Greek origin of our raw material. It is a fact that only rennet that is made from Greek countryside livestock meets the culinary requirements of FETA and other traditional Greek cheeses. These are cheeses which have been made particularly with this Greek product for centuries, having been inextricably linked with it in terms of their quality characteristics.
The special respect we give to tradition is also of great importance. The technology we use complies with this as the coagulating enzymes are extracted in the same way as in the past.
At the same time, the fact that we are able to produce products free of pathogenic microorganisms, but also of chemical additives and colorants, and with a really low content of preservative, as certified by a series of laboratory tests, inspires particular credibility.
Finally, another factor appreciated by the cheesemakers who trust us is the constant communication and the personal cooperation that we develop with each one of them individually. This allows us to resolve, on an ongoing basis, any questions they may have about the use of the product. At the same time, it enables us to adapt the production and shipment of the product to the individual needs of each customer.
OBJECTIVES
At PIXI one of our main objectives is to become better and better at what we do, the production of natural animal rennet. This means always aiming for tradition, but also guided by the needs of today and the challenges of tomorrow. It means always innovating in our production methods. It means providing cheesemakers with an ever wider and higher quality range of products so that they can choose the one that best suits their needs. It means servicing them more and more efficiently by sending our products all over Greece and the world. Every year we want to find ourselves more mature and more wise.
For us, it is a matter of honor that Greek rennet takes its rightful place in the international cheese market.To this end, we are determined to fight hard. We know that Greek natural rennet has incomparable quality advantages.We are confident that foreign markets will quickly realize the benefits that await them and will show strong and serious interest..
Our first priority, however, is to regain the trust of Greek cheesemakers, which has been lost in many ways. It is of great importance for them to understand that they are the ones who are being harmed by this stance, as they are essentially deprived of the only product that can help them, the rennet that gave substance to Greek cheesemaking and defined its character. However, Greek cheesemaking without Greek rennet is inconceivable. And when we talk about Greek rennet, we mean nothing other than the traditional one.
Therefore, we can only appeal to every Greek cheesemaker who is looking for something truly original and at the same time truly Greek, to make a smart and bold decision. To trust PIXIS. To trust their country and its products. The positive impact on their production will be immediate and noticeable.