TikTok Has People Smuggling Fruit Roll-Ups Into Israel
Along with Fruit Gushers and Fruit by the Foot, Fruit Roll-Ups have undeniably found their way into our hearts with their vibrant fruit flavors and chewy texture. However, Fruit Roll-Ups have also found themselves in a rather sticky situation, with Israeli customs officials confiscating more than 661 pounds of the snacks in just the last week. But why exactly are people trying to smuggle Fruit Roll-Ups into Israel?
If you spend time on TikTok, you've probably seen the videos of people eating Fruit Roll-Ups with ice cream. If not, the trend boils down to placing a scoop of ice cream in the middle of an unrolled Fruit Roll-Up, then folding it into a sugary dumpling of sorts. The ice cream allegedly freezes the Fruit Roll-Up, making it crunchy rather than chewy. As is usually the case with TikTok, the whole thing has gone viral.
Because the trend got so popular in Israel, American Fruit Roll-Ups came into high demand. Unfortunately, this meant several Americans tried smuggling Fruit Roll-Ups into Israel, with the intent to resell the snacks for tens of thousands of shekels.
Fruit Roll-Ups are worth a lot of money in Israel right now
For Americans, it's easy to drive down the street to Walmart and pick up a 30-count box of Fruit Roll-Ups for $8.26. However, in Israel, where these snacks have become next to impossible to find, individual Fruit Roll-Ups sell for as much as $5 or $6 each.
Naturally, many people have wanted to help ease the shortage, whether out of the goodness of their hearts or in hopes of making a small fortune. Let's be real, though, if you're traveling to Israel with two checked bags full of Fruit Roll-Ups when they're worth $5 apiece, you're probably hoping to make some money.
While we can't say for sure how much exactly the snacks were worth in Israel, by weight alone, 661 pounds of Fruit Roll-Ups could be worth around $5,824 (or, as The Yeshiva World estimated, tens of thousands of shekels). Needless to say, those Fruit Roll-Ups never got to fulfill their ice cream destiny because, sadly, confiscated airport food is thrown into a giant grinder. Those Fruit Roll-Ups deserved better.