Experiments in Food Safety Policy Integration in the European Union*

Policy issues are increasingly cross‐cutting. Policy integration has therefore become a fashionable concept among policy‐makers at domestic and international levels. Theoretically, the article facilitates a deeper understanding of the concept of policy integration. Empirically, this article analyses food safety policy integration in the European Union (EU). Three different historical phases are identified here. The central argument is that the way cross‐cutting policy issues are integrated within policy sectors affects the opportunities for effective integration of these issues across different policy sectors.