diff --git a/plugins/FeedsSimplePieParser.inc b/plugins/FeedsSimplePieParser.inc
index 351bb56754abeeb1e1d1162596333f7676ca65d7..638d18dcf6a6f2e3f39bf614cd38ead07d66c5e7 100644
--- a/plugins/FeedsSimplePieParser.inc
+++ b/plugins/FeedsSimplePieParser.inc
@@ -44,8 +44,11 @@ class FeedsSimplePieParser extends FeedsParser {
       $item['title'] = ($title = $simplepie_item->get_title()) ? $title : $this->createTitle($simplepie_item->get_content());
       $item['description'] = $simplepie_item->get_content();
       $item['url'] = html_entity_decode($simplepie_item->get_link());
-      // U = std. unix timestamp
+      // Use UNIX time. If no date is defined, fall back to FEEDS_REQUEST_TIME.
       $item['timestamp'] = $simplepie_item->get_date("U");
+      if (empty($item['timestamp'])) {
+        $item['timestamp'] = FEEDS_REQUEST_TIME;
+      }
       $item['guid'] = $simplepie_item->get_id();
       // Use URL as GUID if there is no GUID.
       if (empty($item['guid'])) {