Mass. native, 'Grey's Anatomy' star Ellen Pompeo said she was detained by TSA over her sunflower seeds

“Grey’s Anatomy” star Ellen Pompeo says she had an unexpected run-in with airport security over her on-flight snack.

The Everett native told Travel + Leisure last month that she was trying to catch a flight in March when she set off the security alarms, leading them to bring in the bomb squad. The culprit? A bag of sunflower seeds.

“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. “They literally held me for an hour, and they brought the bomb squad in. And I was like, ‘what is happening? Is this a joke?’”

TSA officials informed the actress it was most likely a chemical on the packaging of the sunflower seeds that set off the alarm, she told Travel + Leisure. She offered to t