Why Is Hostess Now Freezing Twinkies?

When it was announced that the beloved Twinkie would finally be making its way back to grocery store shelves on July 15th after a much-too-long hiatus brought on by parent company Hostess' bankruptcy, there was much rejoicing. It appears as if the classic processed snack cake will taste just like the one you remember, albeit with one tweak: there's a good chance that the Twinkie you purchase might have been shipped to the store frozen.

In another sign of the cake's legendary durability, the New York Post learned that a percentage of Twinkies will be frozen before being shipped out to grocers, in an effort to "date the product for freshness," and provide them with "flexibility in filling their shelves," a representative told The Huffington Post.

This effort will help keep the Twinkies that make it to the shelf last longer, as they only keep for 45 days before expiring (the rumor that they last indefinitely is just an urban myth). Hostess apparently tossed around this idea before filing for bankruptcy (apparently it's less expensive to ship frozen food), but unions couldn't get on board with it.

The Hostess representative claims that the freezing and unfreezing process won't affect at all, but we'll be the judge of that.