"Bush's legs": meat quality and economic aspect

In our time, chicken legs are common and common all the goods, which many inhabitants of the country do not pay too much attention to. And people are so used to their constant availability on sale that they forgot even their first name in the people's environment - "Bush's legs". And this despite the fact that a few years ago this product played an important role in building the relationship between the United States of America and the Russian Federation.

Salvation from hunger

At the beginning of 1990, the food situation in the decaying Soviet Union was critical. The food was getting smaller and smaller, and the people's queues, on the contrary, increased with crazy speed. However, at the same time, friendship with the United States grew stronger every day. And at a certain moment, the then head of the USSR, Mikhail Gorbachev, signed in some sense a historical agreement with his American counterpart George Bush Sr., which indicated that the United States would supply the Union with chicken legs in a frozen form, which they finally received, painfully familiar to us The name of "Bush's legs".

Economic component

Such a decision under the circumstances was beneficial, of course, to both sides. The USSR got rid of the food crisis, and the US found for itself a huge market for its not always good food products. Bush's legs began to be supplied to the Union also because the overwhelming number of Americans preferred white chicken meat, which was why the US market was poorly sold on the domestic market of the United States, as a result, there was a surplus. Therefore, Bush the elder decided that selling this product to the USSR would be economically feasible and fully justified from the economic point of view.

Wand-rescue wand

As time has shown, Bush's "legs" in Russia proved to be a real salvation for ordinary citizens of the country during the period of the huge deficit that took place during the planned economy. And even when Boris Yeltsin came to power with his decisive idea of a free market, thanks to which the prices for all goods went up several times, the chicken leg of American production still remained public and relatively stable in value. This gave a good opportunity to feed people with low material incomes, because even one "Bush's leg" allowed to cook a hot dish (soup or borsch) for the whole average family.

The manipulation tool

In 2005, a trade agreement was signed between the Russian and American governments, on the basis of which until 2009 74% of the quotas of all imported chicken to Russia were to belong exclusively to the United States. At the same time, it was pointed out that every year the supply figure should necessarily increase by 40,000 tons. In addition, American chicken legs were sold in Russia at dumping prices, which literally killed local poultry producers who were unable to resist Western competitors. Of course, thanks to this, the US housekeeper even stood on the "Bush legs" even on the outskirts of Alaska - the Americans' income from the chicken sold over the ocean was so huge.

Such a contract made both sides hostage. "Bush's legs", the photos of which are given below, have become a real lever of political blackmail both for Russia and for the United States. The thing is that Russia has already been extremely difficult to give up this product because of its simply crazy popularity among the people. At the same time, the Americans were also not interested in losing such a huge market, like Russia, because 40% of the chicken thigh exports at that time accounted for it.

Ultimatum

In 2006, Russia delivered an ultimatum to the United States, which stated that the trade preference for the import of agricultural products (including Bush's legs) would be abolished if the protocol of the Russian Federation's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Insight

Over time, when the long-term euphoria from the availability of cheap chicken products passed, serious questions began to arise. Ordinary citizens of the country began to worry very much, and whether it is possible to eat such "Bush legs" that they liked so much, the calorie content of which was quite high (158 kilocalories per 100 grams of product). Repeated expert checks said that in these chicken legs the concentrations of various hormones and antibiotics introduced to the bird during its active growth are simply beyond reach. As a consequence, lovers of such hams began to undergo a significant decrease in the body's immunity and the occurrence of various dangerous allergic reactions. In addition, there was information that in American chicken there are large doses of female hormones, which are extremely detrimental to the male body.

It also became known to the public that American poultry producers in their factories actively use chlorine. At the same time, the official US authorities allowed the concentration of this chemical element in the ratio of 20-50 parts per million. According to the owners of poultry farms, such weakly chlorinated solutions can not bear the danger and threat to human health. At the same time, even such scant information turned out to be enough for sanitary doctors to sound the alarm, and potential and existing consumers thought about the rationality of purchasing such chicken legs.

However, many of this information in no way stopped, and people still continued to acquire already become almost native American legs. And even if a person wanted to buy chicken thighs that were not produced in the United States of America, brisk merchants in the markets very often still literally "crammed" them under the guise of a product produced, for example, in Brazil.

International scandal

In 2002, "Bush's legs" and did fall under the ban for a period of one month. The whole fault was caused by the fact that the bacteria of the Salmonella pathogen, dangerous for human life, were found in the legcakes imported from the United States of America. This scandal significantly spoiled the reputation of American suppliers and caused them distrust of Russians.

Taboo

American goods have repeatedly become the object of ridicule of many humorists, "walked" on them and the famous satirist Mikhail Zadornov. "Bush's legs" nevertheless from January 1, 2010 were banned. This was due to the fact that the decree was signed with the signature of the chief sanitary doctor of Russia, which spoke of the inadmissibility of selling chicken products to the public, which is produced using chlorine compounds.

Import substitution

In August 2014, the Russian Federation imposed a complete trade embargo on all meat products and products from the United States. After that, "Bush's legs," the recipe for cooking which for many years of their supply became known in many Russian families, completely stopped shipping to Russia. And already in May 2015, Dmitry Medvedev, who is the prime minister of the country, and did say that the Russian Federation can fully fill its domestic market with chicken meat. Therefore, today's chicken legs, lying on the shelves in stores and supermarkets, have absolutely nothing to do with the US, much less with former President Bush.