FDA food safety officials want to increase the agency’s overseas inspection presence 20-fold, Congress Daily (subscription) reports today: “The Obama administration intends to increase the number of inspections of foreign food plants from 100 per year to 2,000 per year, a key FDA official said Wednesday.”

The official, Stephen Sundlof, said FDA wants to focus on listeria in imported dairy products. The initiative stems from fears that Chinese manufacturers do not safeguard against melamine contamination. In 2008, the chemical was added to baby formula, sickening, and even killing, infants in China. Melamine has been detected in other Chinese products, including pet food.

According to Congress Daily, “Sundlof also noted that there are 200,000 foreign plants that make food for the U.S. market and said FDA will also focus on the food safety systems in foreign countries.”

The FDA needs to be paying close attention to the food safety systems in other countries. In recent years, an increasing amount of foodstuffs has come from overseas – a trend that will surely continue. To date, FDA has not responded in kind, as is evidenced by the fact that the agency currently conducts only 100 inspections annually.

Since more inspections likely necessitates more inspectors and more resources, I’ll be anxious to see whether Sundlof’s comments are reflected in President Obama’s FY 2011 budget request scheduled to be released Feb. 1. Check back with the Fine Print for a rundown of FDA’s budget and the budgets of other regulatory agencies.