Your friend in Switzerland is indicative of why Europe won’t import American meat, and won’t allow genetically modified crops to be grown. They think those things are dangerous. Europeans will tell you point blank that Americans are fat because of the hormones that make American cows enormous are in the meat, and Americans eat the meat, and so Americans become enormous because of the hormones. They believe it. They do not want any food treated with hormones. Likewise, they do not want anything to do with crops that have been genetically modified.
That’s what the European people want, in their market, for their consumption.
Of course, therefore, the United States has seized the World Trade Organization citing Europe’s violation of free trade. Europe is a huge market, and those Europeans are going to buy our hormone treated meat and our Frankenstein wheat, dammit. Who the hell do they think they are excluding our products, which we make WAY cheaper than theirs are (because they don’t use hormones or GMOs, and therefore don’t have the yields). How DARE those, those SOCIALISTS use national sovereignty as the basis to erect laws that make it ILLEGAL for us to sell our meat and our wheat in their market! We have the lowest price, therefore we have the RIGHT, by virtue of our superior production methods, to put the European farmers out of business because our products are cheaper. HOW DARE those Europeans use their LAWS to completely block us from competing in their markets! Socialist bastards! We need the WTO to batter down those doors and force the Europeans to buy our economically superior hormone meat and Frankenstein wheat. It is our divine right, being the lowest price producer, to own all the markets we can reach. National sovereignty cannot be allowed to stand in the way of superior economic organization!
Follow the money. It seems to be all about money and not about public health in this country, but this is coming back to bite these corporations big time. The growth in organic food products in this country has been phenomenal. Now even Walmart is jumping onto the organic bandwagon. The only problem with this is that these so-called organic products may not have the same level of quality traditionally associated with the word “organic”. The ironic thing is, if these corps really embraced the concept of quality, purity and health in their products, their profits would go through the roof. The end result would be a win/win.
The health costs alone due to the "American diet" are astronomical. Obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, autoimmune diseases, etc. Do a search on excitotoxin/s like MSG. MSG is a common "flavor enhancer" that is added to many processed foods and oftentimes is hidden in the label. Salt, MSG and similar additives are cheaper than actually making food taste good naturally with more expensive spices that are beneficial healthwise like rosemary, garlic, turmeric, etc., etc. There are recent articles out there that have talked about the dangers of salt in many of our foods, especially processed and restaurant fare. High salt intake has a direct correlation to high blood pressure and stroke.
Sorry for the long rant, but I passionately believe that food safety/health is the building block for a healthy, happy, productive life and that a healthy lifestyle should be promoted.