The total of confirmed swine flu cases in Canada has risen to 19, with six more cases added Wednesday, health officials said.

Three of the new cases are in British Columbia, and the other three come from Ontario.

Provincial officials said all six cases are mild ones.

Ontario's chief medical health officer David Williams said all three new cases are women in their early 20s who have recently returned from Mexico.

Of the 19 confirmed cases in Canada, seven are in Ontario, six in B.C., two in Alberta and four in Nova Scotia.

Canada announced Wednesday that it is stepping up inspections of all pork products, both to protect the pork export market and to reassure a nervous public that the food supply is safe.

International Trade Minister Stockwell Day and Agriculture Minister Gerry Ritz stressed in a joint statement that human swine influenza cannot be contracted by eating pork.

Canadian pork exports were worth 2.7 billion Canadian dollars (US$2.1 billion) in 2008. 　

(Xinhua News Agency April 30, 2009)