Three people charged with killing at least two women, eating parts of their bodies and using their flesh to make and sell stuffed pastries have gone on trial in Brazil.

A man, his wife and his mistress were arrested in April 2012 in the city of Garanhuns and police say they confessed to the crimes.

Jorge Beltrao Negromonte da Silveira, his wife Isabel Cristina Pires and mistress Bruna Cristina Oliveira da Silva, who lived with the couple, allegedly lured women to their house by promising them a job as a nanny.

Police found the remains of two women in the back yard of the suspects' house.

At the time of their arrest they told police they belonged to a sect that preached "the purification of the world and the reduction of its population".

Authorities said the trio made thick empada pastries with the flesh of their victims, which the three and a young child who lived with the man and wife ate. The pastries were also sold to some neighbours.

Shortly after their arrest, police found a 50-page book titled Revelations Of A Schizophrenic, written by Silveira. In it, he said he heard voices and was obsessed with killing women.

The G1 news site quoted Silveira as saying during the trial's opening: "I committed a horrible, monstrous mistake. It was a moment of extreme weakness and brutality that I regret."