Pour one out for Little Debbie.
The snack line, which includes Zebra Cakes, frosted mini donuts, and other cornerstones of commissary cuisine, will soon no longer be stocked at U.S. military bases.
A spokesperson for McKee Foods Corporation, the Tennessee-based bakery that manufactures the Little Debbie products, told Stars and Stripes that regulatory costs are now simply too expensive for the company to continue supplying the Defense Commissary Agency and the Naval Exchange Service.
So if you’re not currently stockpiling every one of those fruit pies and Swiss rolls, it will soon be too late.
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As Stars and Stripes reported, this troubling development in access to sugary, processed snacks already has some service members disappointed.
“I buy Little Debbie snacks almost every other week,” Air Force Staff Sgt. Johnathan Garcia, a laboratory technician for the 374th Medical Support Squadron at Yokota Air Base in Japan, told the news outlet. “My department sells them in our sunshine fund to pay for morale activities and going away gatherings. I’m a little upset because there are really no equivalent products to buy off base while overseas and I really like my Zebra Cakes and Nutty Bars!”
The McKee Foods Corporation spokesperson expressed regret at Little Debbie’s time on commissary shelves coming to an end, saying “Perhaps some will see an opportunity to streamline federal contractor compliance.”
And with that, service members will now have to turn elsewhere to get their filling of chocolate frosting, creme filling, and cake. Or, perhaps, use this as an opportunity to expand the palette, like that Marine who is making gourmet surf-and-turf meals in the barracks. Either way, bon appétit.
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