Question about Modifiers?

Hi all, I have a quick question on modifiers

Example 1
Eaten in the Mediterreanean countries, the tomato was viewed with suspicion by northern Europeans, who assumed it had poisonous properties beacuse of its relationship to deadly nightshade

In this example we can see that the tomato is modified by the very first clause, beacuse we expect the modifier to refer to the subject of the second sentence.
However if you look at the examples below you can clearly see that they are also correct while modifiers don't seem to refer to subject. Can anyone elaborate on why they are also correct?

Example 2
Many geologists fear that California, subject to earthquakes due to the positioning of the coastal tectonic plates, may someday become too unstable to support urban population
Although we can infer what the sentence says from the meaning, Geologists are the subject but California is modified, somehow by the next modifier

Example 3
Much of the global commerce that is conducted today at some point involves the EU, believed by some to be one of the most powerful market forces in the world.

Again we can see that subject is not modified but rather object. Is it possible that a separated modifier refers to the object?

Thank you everyone
Expert views are highly valued