Key Reasons to Be Skeptical about lab-grown meat "Naturalness" and Disgust: Many consumers remain uncomfortable with the idea of eating meat grown in a laboratory setting, often referred to as the "ick factor".Scalability and Cost: While improving, cultivated meat is still very expensive to produce at scale. Many experts believe it will be years before it is cost-competitive with traditional meat. Energy Consumption: If the energy used to run the bioreactors comes from fossil fuels, the environmental benefit may be lower than expected, with some studies suggesting it could even have a high carbon footprint.