BERLIN – German Ministry of Interior issued an apology over serving sausage containing pig blood, bacon, and pork to the people attending the German Islam Conference in Berlin, the BBC reported..

“What signal does [Minister Horst] Seehofer’s interior ministry want to send? A little respect for Muslims, who don’t eat pork, is needed,” German journalist Tuncay Özdamar wrote on Twitter.

The event, held last week, was led by Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, who in March said Islam “does not belong in Germany.”

The ministry said the food selection had been designed for the “diverse religious attendance” at the German Islam Conference in Berlin.

But it apologized “if individuals felt offended in their religious feelings.”

Most of the attendees at the Islam conference were Muslims, local media reported.

At the start of the conference, Seehofer reportedly said that he wanted to see a “German Islam.”

But Özdamar added that Seehofer’s “elephant in a china shop” behavior “would never gain the support of a majority of Muslims in Germany.”

The concept of halal — meaning permissible in Arabic — has traditionally been applied to food.

Muslims do not eat pork and consider pigs and their meat filthy and unhealthy to eat.