Central Market stalwart Atlas Continental Cafe pleads guilty to serving brekky wrap with broken glass
A Central Market staple has faced court over a jagged, unwelcome and decidedly unappetising addition to its signature brekky wrap.
Police & Courts
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Atlas Continental Cafe promises crispy bacon, tomato chutney, scrambled egg, cheese and spinach in its signature “brekky wrap”.
In May last year, however, the well-known Central Market eatery fried up some indigestible ingredients for one customer’s meal – three shards of broken glass.
On Tuesday, Atlas director Martin Marinelli fronted the Adelaide Magistrates Court and admitted breaches of the national food safety standards.
On behalf of his business, Mariker Pty Ltd, he also pleaded guilty to failing to keep broken glass out of the cafe’s frying pan and cooking utensils.
Atlas Continental Cafe is the second South Australian business this year to be prosecuted for serving glass shards in its food.
In February, Valley View business Valentino Pizza Cafe and its owner, Mahdi Al Haiery, were fined $10,500 over their “grubby and disgraceful” approach to food safety.
That cafe not only delivered a pizza topped with broken glass to a customer, but also failed to act on repeated hygiene warnings from safety inspectors.
Atlas Continental Cafe was opened in the Market in the late 1970s by Mr Marinelli’s father, who passed away in 2017.
Mr Marinelli and his brother Marco, who operates the nearby Mushroom Man stall and is not accused of any wrongdoing, are second-generation Market stallholders.
On its Facebook page, the cafe says it offers “deliciously fresh, fast and nutritious food made by friendly staff in a vibrant and fun atmosphere”.
It underwent extensive renovations in 2020, incorporating a wood oven pizza and offering a kid’s menu.
On Tuesday, the court heard Atlas and Mr Marinelli’s offending occurred on May 18 last year.
It heard they caused, permitted or failed to prevent “foreign matter, namely shards of glass” being in a breakfast wrap.
The customer who received the wrap consumed the shards, but fortunately did not require hospitalisation.
The court also heard the cafe “failed to take all necessary steps to prevent the likelihood” of glass “contaminating” its “cooking equipment, including a frying pan and utensils”.
Michael Dadds, for Mr Marinelli and the cafe, said his clients had originally been charged with a number of offences arising from the incident.
He said that, by virtue of their guilty pleas, all other charges were to be withdrawn.
Paul Kelly, for Adelaide City Council, confirmed a plea bargain had been brokered and asked for time to finalise his submissions on the incident and on penalty.
Magistrate Kym Millard agreed, adjourning the case until next week.
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