Recital 17

(17)The setting of objectives such as pathogen reduction targets or performance standards may guide the implementation of hygiene rules. It is therefore necessary to provide procedures for that purpose. Such objectives would supplement existing food law, such as Council Regulation (EEC) No 315/93 of 8 February 1993 laying down Community procedures for contaminants in food ⁷ which provides for the establishment of maximum tolerances for specific contaminants, and Regulation (EC) No 178/2002, which prohibits the placing on the market of unsafe food and provides a uniform basis for the use of the precautionary principle.