“Grey’s Anatomy” star Ellen Pompeo said the Transportation Security Administration held her over a bag of sunflower seeds from an upscale grocery store.

Ms. Pompeo was at an airport for a flight in March and was headed through security when she was flagged over her bag of sunflower seeds. She didn’t say which airport.

“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? 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!” Ms. Pompeo told Travel + Leisure magazine in an interview last week.

She purchased the seeds at Erewhon, saying they were “probably the most expensive sunflower seeds money can buy.”

Ms. Pompeo also said that she offered to throw the seeds away, but that TSA insisted on keeping her at security until the bomb squad could analyze the bag. She ended up making her flight on time, despite the delay.

The TSA prefers to err on the side of caution. Even if an item is innocuous, if its chemical composition is similar to that of a dangerous item, the agency will test it to make sure it’s safe, an unnamed TSA agent told USA Today.

• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.