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Lauren I. (Should Really Just Relax) @NextLaurenAD LA's hottest new club is the Sqirl Moldy Jam Kitchen. It's got it all: a secret entrance in a walk-in fridge, therapeutic spores circulated directly in the air, and artisanal wolfgooseberry preserves enhanced with organic probiotic mold served in 12 quart buckets. GIF 6:59 PM · Jul 12, 2020 · Twitter for Android

ben mekler @benmekler tfw u love Sqirl jam 4:05 PM · Jul 12, 2020 · Twitter for iPhone >

Amanda Mull @amandamull I am one of those incredibly annoying people who sometimes becomes convinced that something must be bad just because everyone seems to think it is good, which is to say that find this Sqirl news very satisfying for absolutely no real reason 6:55 PM · Jul 12, 2020 · Twitter for iPhone 28 Retweets and comments 724 Likes Amanda Mull @amandamull · 16h Replying to @amandamull I've never been to Sqirl! I've only been to LA once and it was for the Rose Bowl 47 <]

Molly Lambert @mollylambert the Sqirl mold scandal is keeping me cool on this hot Sunday ben mekler @benmekler · 19h Show this thread OK-here's what we know. * There was an illegal kitchen space operating at Sqirl that was actively kept hidden from health inspectors. * This space contained all of the jam made at Sqirl, inside the walk-in. The fan inside the walk-in had mold on it, and the fan spread mold spores all over the jam. The jams were left with their lids off due to improper jam cooling procedures, that is, the jams were cooled in tall plastic containers rather than put in shallow hotel pans that could be cooled in an ice >

SQIRL @SQIRLLA There have been a lot of questions about our jam this weekend. Here are our answers: anu to save ie money to CONUNUE to improve systems as Sqirl continued to grow so far beyond what I initially imagined and planned for (namely, a non-public facing kitchen where we would make and sell jam and maybe teach a class here and there). We don't use commercial pectin, sweeteners, or other stabilizers, and to highlight the fruit, we add little sugar. That yields a more natural, fruit-forward product. We use about half the sugar you'd find in a typical supermarket jam. And put simply, a low sugar jam is more susceptible to the growth of mold. The same types of mold that develop on some cheese, charcuterie, dry aged beef, and lots of other preserved foods. In deference to the concerns about jam and mold specifically, we're doing even more to better store our bulk jams. We are doing away with the current cold storage process altogether. Instead, moving forward, we will switch over to a combination of hot-packing bulk jam as well as sealing and storing the batch leftovers for immediate use on the line in the Sqirl In April, 2019, with a big renovation, our whole kitchen system at Sqirl began to change, which brought plenty of challenges for our team and our systems. In January, 2020, we moved back into the renovated Sqirl that you see today on Virgil, a restaurant with an A rating from the health department and an active Kitchen. If you are in community with us and have good faith questions about any of these practices, get in touch (hellosqirl@gmail.com)! We will do our very best to HACCP plan. All jam production-for jarred retail and the restaurant-is 100% done off-site at our catering answer everyone. kitchen, a California Department of Food and Ag Milk and Dairy Food Safety certified facility. In the past, jam was made on site at Sqirl-always legally and always labeled accordingly. Sqirl is ever-evolving, and now more than ever before. We're committed to continuously improving into a better and safer restaurant. 5:28 PM · Jul 12, 2020 · Twitter Web App

OK-here's what we know. * There was an illegal kitchen space operating at Sqirl that was actively kept hidden from health inspectors. * This space contained all of the jam made at Sqirl, inside the walk-in. The fan inside the walk-in had mold on it, and the fan spread mold spores all over the jam. The jams were left with their lids off due to improper jam cooling procedures, that is, the jams were cooled in tall plastic containers rather than put in shallow hotel pans that could be cooled in an ice bath. * Jam had a thick layer of mold, one employee described the mold on the jam as a quarter-inch thick. Mold was scraped off into a bucket (see https://moldbucket.clickbaittrash.com for a picture) and then the jam was deemed satisfactory for use once mold was scraped off. Employees say that Jessica Koslow directly instructed them to scrape off the mold. One employee said that they were told specifically that the health department OK'd the mold removal as long as 2 inches of jam was removed. * Multiple employees have said that they were locked in this illegal kitchen space, with the lights off, whenever health inspections oe inspectors were and so hea Wow just went down a rabbit hole. @sqirlla . Developing story on @joe rosenthal's ig red th: didn't see tne * They were s 2012 to as rec earl. all jam produce stories. * There were rats.

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Sqirl Mold Controversy

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Overview

Sqirl Mold Controversy refers to the alleged discovery that Los Angeles-based jam company and restaurant Sqirl served jam which was infected with mold. Furthermore, there were accusations of widespread rats in the kitchens and of employees being forced to hide during health inspections. The controversy trended on Twitter as people joked about the developing story.

Background

On July 12th, 2020, Instagram user @Joe_Rosenthal began posting conversations he'd had with former Sqirl employees who alleged that the company regularly served jam that had been affected by mold on his Instagram stories. The mold would be scraped off before being served to customers. This was allegedly done in a "secret kitchen" which employees would hide in when Sqirl was visited by health inspectors (screenshots shown below).

joe_rosenthal • Follow 22h thao nguyen This is a truly disturbing situation, and the disturbing part isn't the mold: It's how Koslow handled a food and working hazard for years and years. An employee talked about "mold dust," another talked about being in the dark illegal space full of dead rats. There was a bucket full of 1/4" thick layers of mold that was scraped off jam to serve to customers. This needs to stop. I've talked to about a dozen Sqirl employees that have made alarming reports of unsanitary food handling and abusive working conditions. Many have told me about being locked in an illegal kitchen space, in the dark, so Koslow could deceive the health department and hide the existence of the space and the employees there in. Customers and employees alike were Seut av sisk ger almost a decade.

Developments

As Rosenthal's Instagram stories began spreading, Twitter user @BenMekler^[2] tweeted updates, helping the story go viral on the platform (shown below, left). Sqirl responded on Twitter,^[1] saying the allegations of scraping mold off jams were true but were done under the recommendation of "preservation mentors and experts like Dr. Patrick Hickey" (shown below, right). They did not respond to allegations of having employees hide in an illegal kitchen when health inspectors arrived.

Twitter users commented on the developing drama with interest. User @mollylambert^[3] tweeted, "the Sqirl mold scandal is keeping me cool on this hot Sunday," gaining over 250 retweets and 1,400 likes. User @AmandaMull^[4] tweeted, "I am one of those incredibly annoying people who sometimes becomes convinced that something must be bad just because everyone seems to think it is good, which is to say that I find this Sqirl news very satisfying for absolutely no real reason" (shown below, right).

Others made memes about the developing controversy. Mekler^[5] tweeted a Last Of Us clicker joking about enjoying Sqirl's jam (shown below, left). Twitter user @NextLaurenAD^[6] posted a GIF from SNL mocking the controversy (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References

^[1] Twitter – @SQIRLLA

^[2] Twitter – @benmekler

^[3] Twitter – mollylambert

^[4] Twitter – amandamull

^[5] Twitter – Benmekler

^[6] Twitter – NextLaurenAD

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