You're probably thinking to the hormone beef issue where EU has stricter standards than the USA.

On the other hand, EU allows cheese made from raw milk while most of the US states disallow it.

On both issues and as a cheese lover I'm glad to live on the right side of the Atlantic.

I believe that's because Europeans showed that it's possible to have safe cheese made from raw milk (since it's quite ingrained into several cultures).

My comment also includes many additives, pesticides and other lots of food-related components which are allowed in the US but not in the EU.

But EU states have more lax food safety laws than the US?

See e.g. how Germany handles milk compared to the US.

They have different standards for some things.

Eg in Germany minced pork has to be safe to eat raw, because that's what Germans do. Not because they are necessarily any stricter in general.

In the US eggs have to refrigerated. In Germany they are typically sold at room temperature. (I'm not sure whether refrigeration of eggs would be legal for shops in Germany?)

Sure, but I fail to see how this means that in general EU laws on foods are much stricter.

Especially when to comes to the dichotomy of proven safe vs. not proven unsafe.

Yes, I was mostly agreeing with your stance on that. I just wanted to add some extra details.

The eggs can be kept that way because they aren’t washed like they are in the USA and that process removes a valuable layer that keeps eggs shelf stable for quite a while; in the USA it washed away and to keep the eggs fresh they’re refrigerated instead. I have no idea which way is best.

Yes, that was my point: they have different standards, but it's in general hard to say which one is 'stricter' or 'better', if that applies at all.

In Germany, the irradiation of almost all foods (except dry spices) is banned. There's no good reason for this, just pseudoscientific paranoia. Irradiation is a great way to safely sterilize food.