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Americans smuggling Fruit Roll-Ups into Israel [1]
['Ruben Bolling']
Date: 2023-05-11
Mixing Fruit Roll-Ups into ice cream has become a TikTok-fueled craze in Israel, and the sudden and frenzied demand for the snack has led to shortages. So some Americans have tried to smuggle commercial quantities of the snack into the country to sell at huge mark-ups.
Article in The New York Times here.
An American couple was caught trying to smuggle 375 POUNDS of Fruit Roll Ups into the State of Israel after prices skyrocketed once the snack became part of a viral TikTok trend.
Did you pack your bags yourselves and also are they full of exclusively candy? pic.twitter.com/GtGh76Z9n9 — Amy Spiro (@AmySpiro) May 1, 2023
But the frenzy in Israel left stores across Tel Aviv completely sold out of Fruit Roll-Ups, according to local news reports. When they could get their hands on them, merchants around the country instead started selling individually wrapped Fruit Roll-Ups — which are typically sold in boxes containing several of the snacks — for up to $8 each, the Tax Authority said, even though a box of 10 Fruit Roll-Ups in the United States averages around $3. The market shortage caught the attention of enterprising minds in America. In late April, the agency said, an American couple were caught, each carrying a suitcase filled with more than 185 pounds of Fruit Roll-Ups, part of a haul of nearly 375 pounds. The Tax Authority also shared a video of the unusual discovery, which appeared to show a customs official sifting through several suitcases filled only with hundreds of the small silver and red foil packets.
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