As recently as the 1970s, Hostess products could only stay on a store shelf for 2-3 days. The "Hostess" trucks were always delivering fresh product and removing aging product (destined to be sold at the Hostess Thrift shops). The Hostess deliverymen had strict orders to bring back any product that was not absolutely fresh.
The result was you always got fresh twinkies, cupcakes and pies when you bought them at the store. Further, you did not have all those preservatives and corn syrup in the product. I can still remember how Twinkies used to taste - spongy, delicious cake that stuck to your fingers, creamy filling that made your head spin because of the sugar high that was generated. Now when you buy Twinkies, they could have been sitting on the shelf for weeks.
“Hostess ruined their line of snack products when they shifted focus to extended shelf life as opposed to quality control.
As recently as the 1970s, Hostess products could only stay on a store shelf for 2-3 days.”
That may have been forced on them from tort liability or regulations. I thought maybe my own tastebuds were failing.