Morphological and molecular characteristics of stored-product mites found on Brazilian ripened cheeses

The production and consumption of cheese that contains mites has become a gastronomical trend in Brazil. However, the making of these cheeses has been a traditional process, and thereby empirical in nature, without the regulatory oversight of the Brazilian authorities. Depending on the species, these mites might present health risks for those consuming them. Therefore, we conducted initial morphological and molecular analyses to characterize the diversity of cheese mites present on these Brazilian ripened cheeses. Our results revealed that the mites were predominantly Tyrophagus putrescentiae and to a lesser degree Sancassania aff. feytaudi. Future studies need to be performed to indicate whether these species meet the requirements to be characterized as generally recognized as safe (GRAS status) and are capable of conferring unique and desirable sensory characteristics to the cheese.