European consumer groups are worried about the effects of a proposed trade deal with the U.S., fearing a flood of risky or unsafe foodstuffs, medicines and other imports from America.

Monique Goyens, director general of The European Consumer Organization, said Tuesday "this agreement has the potential in a negative sense of changing consumer safety and consumer protection rules."

U.S. and European Union representatives have resumed negotiations on the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Under it, products authorized for sale in America might gain automatic access to EU markets, and vice versa.

Goyens and leaders of other European citizens associations say that would jeopardize the well being of Europeans and short-circuit EU health and safety standards, which Monika Kosinska, director of the European Public Health Alliance, called the world's most stringent.