What Does a Preserved 40-Year-Old Twinkie Look Like?

I'm not a Twinkie gal and this is one of the reasons why I just don't like this well preserved pastry.

Students in a chemistry class in Maine were doing some work on food additives and shelf life when the teacher decided to put a Twinkie In a glass box and see what happened to it.

ABC News reports the experiment started in 1976 when Roger Bennatti wanted his students to know more about what is in our food.

After a student wondered about the shelf life of the snack, Bennatti sent the students to the store with some money. When they returned with the treat, Bennatti ate one and placed the still-surviving Twinkie on the blackboard.

Bennatti has since retired, but the snack now resides in the office of George Stevens Academy's Dean of Students Libby Rosemeier.

Rosemeier told ABC News she isn't sure who will inherit the Twinkie when she retires, but joked that the Smithsonian hasn't called yet.