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Twinkie smuggling? Might not be so far fetched
Posted: 11.21.2012 at 5:18 PM
Norm Van Ness

Norm Van Ness is the Chief Meteorologist at WNWO.

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U.S. Customs agents monitor how much booze and cigarettes you bring back with you when you come back into the States from Canada.

But with Hostess shutting down its U.S. operations...they might need to start checking for cases of Twinkies and Ding Dongs.

As it turns out, all of the Hostess brands are also manufactured in Canada.

Saputo Inc. (SAP), Canada’s largest dairy processor, has the trademark and brand rights to Hostess CupCakes and Hostess Twinkies in the country and manufactures the products themselves, said Sandy Vassiadis, a spokeswoman for the company in an interview with Bloomberg.com.

“It’s totally separate,” she said, in an interview from Saputo’s headquarters near Montreal. “We own the rights in Canada so what’s happening in the U.S. doesn’t affect us.”

Wonder Bread production will carry on north of the border too.  In Canada, Wonder is owned, manufactured and distributed by Toronto-based George Weston Ltd. (WN), Canada’s largest food manufacturer and majority owner of the Loblaw Cos. grocery chain.

Geoff Wilson, the senior vice president of investor relations with George Weston told Bloomberg, “We own the brand in Canada so everything that’s happening south of the border has no effect in Canada."

Even PepsiCo Inc. (PEP) has its own Hostess brand in Canada.  They sell a line of potato chips sold at discount grocers.

The potato chips aren’t affected by the U.S. filing and will continue to be sold in Canada, according to Sheri Morgan, a spokesperson for PepsiCo when contacted by Bloomberg.

Hostess' CEO told a bankruptcy judge Wednesday, he plans to fire 15,000 of the company's 18,000 employees so they can begin collecting unemployment benefits.

This comes after the maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread could not come to an agreement with striking union workers.

Would you make a run north of the border to bring back Twinkies and Ding Dongs to share or sell in the U.S.???

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