Actor Ellen Pompeo says she was detained by TSA over sunflower seeds

(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