Storage mites: Occurrence, economic importance, and management

Mites are serious pests of stored food products that can cause reduction in weight, quality, and nutritional value of infested food products. In addition, mite occurrence can cause rejection of infested products and, subsequently, a reduction in revenue. Contact with, ingestion, or inhalation of dead or live mites, and/or their feces can lead to severe health problems in humans, such as allergic rhinitis, asthma, contact dermatitis, diarrhea, and intestinal acariasis. These mites are carriers of various mycotoxins-producing fungi through stored food, which lead to exposing human health to danger after eating contaminated food. On the other hand, many storage mites are simply mass-reared on low-cost substrates, and have been used as factitious food in small-scale mass-rearing and in commercial production of many highly-efficient predacious mites. Furthermore, various species of mites associated with stored products can act as predators or parasites on other storage pests. The damage level produced by mite pests is depending on their population size. The growth of mite population in storehouses is affected by several factors.

Autorentext

Shimaa F. Fahim, Assistant Professor. Pests and Plant Protection Department, National Research Centre (NRC), El-Buhouth Street, Dokki, Cairo, Egypt.