Now that Twinkies have risen from the ashes of the old, bankrupt Hostess, to re-emerge anew on shelves across America today, some die-hard fans of the snack cakes are pointing out one glaring problem — the new Twinkies, they’re… smaller. Well, actually, these Twinkies appear to weigh in a bit bigger than the last ones we saw, but have slimmed down from previous iterations. Is this the Grocery Shrink Ray at work?

Here’s how it breaks down: Right before Hostess shut down its bakeries last year, a 10-pack box of Twinkies on shelves was 13.5 ounces. Right now, they’re 13.58 ounces, notes TMJ-4.

“They are exactly the same size as they were when the old company went out of business last year,” said a company spokeswoman.

Case closed, right? Not exactly.

As CNN and others point out, for most of 2012 and in the years preceding, that same count box of Twinkies tipped the scales at 15 ounces — something only the most devoted snackers might notice.

There doesn’t seem to be an answer out there as to why these new Twinkies are slimmer than their predecessors, and there are probably other more egregious Grocery Shrink Ray transgressions out there right now. But at this moment, the day of rebirth for the much loved Twinkies, the sting seems just a little bit sharper, on a day that should be so sweet.

New Twinkies are smaller [CNN]

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