Twinkies to last longer than many may remember

Twinkies don’t last forever, but they’ll have more staying power than most people remember when they return to shelves next week.

Hostess Brands LLC says spongy yellow cakes will have a shelf life of 45 days when they start hitting stores again July 15. That’s nearly three weeks longer than the 26 days their previous owner had stated as the shelf life for Twinkies.

A Hostess representative says the change was made by the old company that went bankrupt, with the longer-lasting cakes first hitting shelves on Nov. 1 of last year. But the old company went out of business and stopped production just weeks after that, meaning the Twinkies most people are familiar with had the shorter lifespan.

Hostess declined to say what changes were made.