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A tiny dark spot found in peeled boiled eggs have sparked rumours of HIV contamination that health experts have flatly rejected. — Photo An Ninh Thu Do

The official said the rumour was groundless, claiming that the virus could not survive in eggs.

Social media photos (see picture) show boiled eggs peeled to reveal a tiny dark hole looking like an injection shot.

The spot cannot be confused with red fertility spots that appear in the yokes of fertilised eggs.

An Ninh Thu Do newspaper (Capital Security) spoke to Nguyen Van Trong, vice director of the agriculture ministry's Department of Animal Husbandry.

He said that it was easy to inject substances into an egg, but he could not see any reason for anyone to do so.

Trong noted that this was not the first time rumours had affected the sale of farm products from China.

He said that under current regulations, all poultry and poultry eggs went through veterinary checks before reaching market.

The newspaper also quoted Nguyen Duy Thinh, an expert formerly at the Ha Noi University of Technology's Institute of Biotechnology and Food Technology.

Thinh said chicken eggs could not be contaminated with HIV because the virus could not exist outside the human body.

Asked about the possible reasons for the spot in the egg, he said it could possibly be due to the improper storage of eggs, genetic mutation or due to certain chemicals in the chicken feed.