Let's see. I culture cells for my research and if somebody tells me to eat those cultures for food, will I? If I think about it, I don't get that kind of feeling for cells I am growing. I would hesitate a bit, maybe eat those cells only in apocalyptic scenario. But why this hesitation? Two reasons I would say
- When they get contaminated by a bacteria or virus I see those gooey stinky plates which I bleach and throw in biohazard bags.
- To avoid such contamination I always grow them in antibiotics - penstrep at least.
Now, when it will come to lab grown meat, I would at least be sure that they grew because they avoided contamination. I would be a little hesitant for antibiotics, yes. But I may eat it if it was approved after proper investigation by FDA.
Then yes it would be much more expensive than growing yeast for wine, or bacterial cultures used to produce any other stuff of human need. So making profit on it won't be very easy. You will need super clean rooms. Also they would need to assure at every step that cell line they are using to produce the meat has not been contaminated by mycoplasma or gotten unwanted genetic mutation. So factor in all that.
Finally, I don't know how is this super clean meat going to taste. Is it even worth it.
But there is one good thing. Unlike traditional meat which can get along with lit of worms and maladies if not cooked properly, lab meat would be much more reliable.
RE: Would You Eat "Lab Grown" Meat?