Why Do Europeans Eat Safer and Healthier than Americans?
By Najla Zaidi | 26 Aug, 2025

Americans may not realize how different the ingredients in their food are from what’s sold across the Atlantic.

Vistors to countries in the European Union are often blown away by the delicious and flavorful foods.  Whether it be a crusty fresh baguette in Paris topped with a perfectly aged cheese, or an al dente pasta accompanied by fragrant tomatoes in Rome, Americans tend to return home wondering why their chicken nuggets taste like sawdust. 

Several differences between American and European food safety guidelines and regulations may account for the drastic difference in the way food tastes and its potential health benefits. 

Let’s begin by looking at how food is regulated in the US vs. the EU.

In the US food regulations are established and enforced by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA).  The agency is responsible for protecting public health across several categories which cover everything from human drugs to cosmetics to X-ray machines.  The FDA overlaps in certain areas with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), whose jurisdiction includes meat, poultry and eggs.

By contrast the EU has one of the strictest food safety systems in the world.  Every single food product, from farming to sale, must comply with stringent quality and safety standards under the “General Food Law” adopted by the EU in 2002 to ensures a high level of protection for human health.  The law mandates that member countries pursue an integrated approach to food safety and established the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).  The EFSA is known for stringent oversight of food safety and quality and provides independent scientific advice to EU policymakers on food and feed safety, nutrition, animal health and welfare, plant protection and plant health.

When it comes to food safety, Europe takes a risk averse position and will pull a product or additive off the market if it has reason to believe it could be harmful.  The US operates under the “presumed innocent,” model.

The US government relies on companies producing the products to prove their own guilt.  A Natural Resources Defense Council report stated, “no other developed country that we know of has a similar system in which companies can decide the safety of chemicals put directly into food.”  The FDA has authority to regulate additives and animal drugs but does not have authority over food itself.  

Instead, the FDA compiles a list of food and food ingredients that are Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS).  By using these GRAS ingredients, food companies are essentially protected from lawsuits that could occur under US liability law.  These differing philosophies lead to certain additives being allowed in the US and banned in Europe. 

Growth hormones, Ractopamine, (rBGH) which increases lean muscle in animal stock, and recombinant Bovine Somatotropin (rBST), used to extend the lactation cycle in dairy cows, were introduced in the US during the 1980’s.  While the US embraced growth hormones, the EU completely prohibits the use of growth hormones and antibiotics in livestock for food production.  Europeans were also concerned that this new technology would jeopardize the economic sustainability of mid-size dairy farms. 

Additionally, Canada and Europe ruled against rBST on the grounds that it was unethical to the animals as it induces higher milk production which increases the risk of mastitis, a painful infectious condition of breast tissue, in dairy cows.  Citizens of other countries mobilized out of concerns for the long-term implications to the environment, their culture, and the ethical treatment of farm animals.

The use of potassium bromate, added to flour to make dough rise higher and turn white, and Azodicarbonamide, (ADA) a whitening agent for cereal flour, are common in the US, but not allowed in the EU.  ADA is a dough conditioner which makes bread stay soft and spongy longer.  It is also used to inject bubbles into certain plastics to manufacture soft, spongy goods such as yoga mats and flip flops, giving it the name the “yoga mat chemical.” 

Potassium bromate has been found in lab animal studies to increase benign and malignant tumors in the thyroid and peritoneum, the membrane that lines the abdominal cavity, and cause significant increases in cancer of the animals’ kidneys, thyroid, and other organs. 

Human studies have found that these additives are linked to numerous health issues, including hyperactivity in children, cancer-causing effects, and endocrine disruption.  The EU, Canada, and Brazil deemed this information enough to ban these products from their food supply. The US did not.

Other FDA approved additives like yellow dyes 5 and 6, red dye 40, blue dye 1, and caramel coloring, are linked to neurological problems, allergies, brain cancer, ADD, and ADHD.  Other countries do not share the US recognition of their “safety”, so these same chemical additives are banned in France, UK, Norway, Austria, and Finland.

The FDA and the USDA set the maximum acceptable levels of pesticides, but these standards are lower than those in the EU.  The EU has very strict requirements for the use of pesticides.  Pesticides are carefully tested and only those deemed safe are approved for use.  Some pesticides, such as glyphosate, a common herbicide, is banned in many EU countries. 

However, in the US 72 pesticides are allowed which are either banned or close to total phase-out in the EU.  In 2016 322 million pounds of these pesticides, about one-quarter of all U.S. pesticide usage, were used in agricultural production.  Among these is glyphosate, the active ingredient in the pesticide Roundup, which is detectable in the majority of U.S. oat, wheat and soy products. 

The International Agency for Research on Cancer and academic studies found that glyphosate is a probable human carcinogen.  However, the EPA disagrees saying it finds no evidence glyphosate poses a cancer risk for humans.  The EU has also banned the three most used neonicotinoids, insecticides linked to colony collapse disorder, an illness which is killing bees.  There is no such ban in the United States.

The US is one of the countries with the highest genetically modified organism (GMO) use in the world.  More than 90% of soya beans, corn and cotton grown in the United States are genetically modified.

A GMO is developed in a lab where the DNA of one species is injected into the DNA of another species.  Crops are genetically engineered to withstand pesticides or to contain a pesticide: Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt).  

In a Bt crop, every cell of the plant is genetically engineered (GE) to produce its own pesticide.  Each GMO variety is therefore considered a pesticide by the EPA.  As a result, 85% of processed foods sold in America contain GMOs, yet the FDA does not require any pre-market safety testing of genetically engineered foods. 

According to the Institute for Responsible Technology (IRT), “Several animal studies indicate serious health risks associated with genetically modified (GM) food including infertility, immune problems, accelerated aging, faulty insulin regulation, and changes in major organs and the gastrointestinal system.”   GMOs are banned or labeled in 64 other countries, but not in the US.  Thus far, the EU has only approved three GMO food products, Bt corn, soya and canola for food use. 

It appears that the US has a lot to learn from our friends across the Atlantic.  Due to their stricter regulations, refusal to use dangerous chemical additives and preservatives, and their concern for the overall well-being of the planet, it looks like the EU wins hands down on food safety.