Are there any drawbacks to tissue culture?

Yes, like with any laboratory technique that has several steps in its protocol and requires optimization there is a potential for error. For animal tissue and plant tissue culture a big issue is the possibility of contamination (e.g. bacteria, viruses, fungi, etc.). When performing tissue culture it is imperative that strict aseptic techniques are used and that it is performed in a sterile environment, such as a microbiological safety cabinet.

Moreover, for plant tissue cultures another major caveat is labor and cost of production. Compared to growing plants from seeds, micropropagation is quite expensive.

At last, high level of expertise is required and small error may lead to complete collapse of product.