A recent viral TikTok trend involving Fruit Roll-Ups has led to a sharp increase in the demand for the fruity snacks, especially in countries such as Israel, where they’re not so easy to obtain.

The trend is simply placing a scoop of ice cream on an unwrapped Fruit Roll-Up, which immediately becomes hard and crunchy, and then wrapping it up and eating it.

It may seem silly and banal but that’s exactly what almost all TikTok trends are.

Although Fruit Roll-Ups are sold in Israel, they’re available only in select stores and are costly. But the TikTok trend has now made them even more costly and difficult to obtain, with black-market prices at NIS 40 for just one roll-up, according to a Walla News report.

US travelers are apparently trying to cash in on the trend. In the past week, customs officers at Ben-Gurion Airport caught several travelers, including two American couples, trying to sneak in over 600 pounds of Fruit Roll-Ups into Israel, worth tens of thousands of shekels.

Times of Israel reporter Amy Spiro posted a video of one “illegal haul” of 375 pounds of fruit roll-ups found in the luggage of an American couple at Ben-Gurion.

Now, even Israel’s Health Ministry has become involved in the trend, complaining on Twitter about the unhealthy ingredients in Fruit-Roll Ups, including palm oil, corn syrup and glucose. The Health Ministry suggested making “cucumber roll-ups” instead, even providing a link to a recipe.

מי לא שמע על הממתק הזה וראה סרטונים ויראליים שלו עוטף גלידה, חורך ומציף את הרשתות החברתיות, ואפילו שמענו אתמול שניסו להבריח כמות גדולה שלו בנתב"ג. אז על מה כל הטירוף?

לפני שמצטרפים לטרנד ומשלמים מחירים מופרכים על ממתק שעוטף גלידה, אולי כדאי שתכירו כמה מהרכיבים שהוא מכיל: pic.twitter.com/PMQ2clUx4E

— משרד הבריאות (@IsraelMOH) May 3, 2023

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)