(The Hill) — Ellen Pompeo says she faced a sunflower seed-related security snafu at the airport, when the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) brought in a bomb squad to inspect her snack food.
The “Grey’s Anatomy” star recounted the March carry-on incident in a recent interview with Travel + Leisure magazine.
“I had a bag of sunflower seeds, like organic sunflower seeds from Erewhon, so they were probably the most expensive sunflower seeds money can buy,” Pompeo said of her purchase from the upscale Los Angeles grocer that she was attempting to bring on a plane.
“They literally held me for an hour, and they brought the bomb squad in,” the 55-year-old actor said.
“And I was like, what is happening? Is this a joke?” Pompeo told the publication.
The culprit, she said, probably had to do with the container carrying her protein-packed cargo: “They said it was most likely a chemical on the packaging of these super expensive, fancy, organic, clean sunflower seeds.”
“My protein on the plane!” she exclaimed.
A TSA spokesperson didn’t respond to ITK’s request for comment.
“I almost missed the flight,” Pompeo said, recalling how she was required to stay on-site during the bomb squad’s investigation.
“It was really like no one would ever believe this! I was texting my publicist saying, ‘I might not get on this plane, and you’re never gonna guess why.’”
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