Erewhon Pumpkin Seeds Cause Chemical Reaction That Brought Bomb Squad to Airport

Erewhon Pumpkin Seeds Cause Chemical Reaction That Brought Bomb Squad to Airport originally appeared on L.A. Mag.
"Grey's Anatomy" star Ellen Pompeo loves to travel. Even after, she says, it led her to be detained at an unnamed airport in March because of a bomb scare triggered by "probably the most expensive sunflower seeds money can buy," purchased at an L.A. Erewhon. "I had a bag of sunflower seeds, like organic sunflower seeds from Erewhon," Pompeo told Travel & Leisure. "They literally held me for an hour, and they brought the bomb squad in.The 55-year-old actress who lives in Los Angeles said she offered to throw away the pricey seeds, but was told by the Transportation Security Agency that she had to wait for the bomb squad. "I was like, what is happening? Is this a joke?" she said.
After testing, officials told her that the scare was likely sparked by what she told the magazine was "a chemical on the packaging of these super expensive, fancy, organic, clean sunflower seeds. My protein on the plane!' She made her flight, she said in the interview, but not before texting her publicist: "I might not get on this plane, and you're never gonna guess why.'" Pompeo has starred in nearly 450 episodes of hit television series Grey's Anatomy, which was often filmed at Veterans Administration Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center, an actual working medical facility in North Hills. The south side of the structure is used for establishing shots of Grey Sloan Memorial, while the characters typically exit and congregate on the building's north side. She most recently appeared in the Hulu series Good American Family.
This story was originally reported by L.A. Mag on Jun 3, 2025, where it first appeared.

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