BUSINESS AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Details) bird / WK in Millions, lb in Billions	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 25, 2016 USD ($) employee bird / WK state grower country lb	Dec. 27, 2015 USD ($)	Dec. 28, 2014 USD ($)
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Number of countries to which the company exports products | country	80
Number of states in which entity operates | state	12
Number of employees | employee	39,600
Maximum processing capacity, more than (number of birds per week) | bird / WK	36.7
Number of pounds of live chicken processed annually, more than | lb	10.7
Number of contract growers that supply poultry | grower	4,045
Ownership percentage	78.50%
Advertising costs	$ 6,200,000	$ 4,700,000	$ 4,400,000
Research and development costs	3,400,000	4,100,000	$ 3,800,000
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Impairment of goodwill	0
Impairment of intangible assets	$ 0	$ 0
Non-compete agreements [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Intangible assets, estimated useful life	3 years	3 years
Customer relationships [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Intangible assets, estimated useful life	13 years	13 years
Minimum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated closing costs, percent of asset fair value	4.00%
Minimum [Member] | Trade names [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Intangible assets, estimated useful life	3 years	3 years
Minimum [Member] | Non-compete agreements [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Intangible assets, estimated useful life	3 years
Minimum [Member] | Building [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property and equipment, estimated useful life	5 years
Minimum [Member] | Machinery and equipment [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property and equipment, estimated useful life	5 years
Minimum [Member] | Automobiles and trucks [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property and equipment, estimated useful life	3 years
Maximum [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated closing costs, percent of asset fair value	6.00%
Maximum [Member] | Trade names [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Intangible assets, estimated useful life	15 years	15 years
Maximum [Member] | Non-compete agreements [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Intangible assets, estimated useful life	15 years
Maximum [Member] | Building [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property and equipment, estimated useful life	33 years
Maximum [Member] | Machinery and equipment [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property and equipment, estimated useful life	33 years
Maximum [Member] | Automobiles and trucks [Member]
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property and equipment, estimated useful life	10 years