BUSINESS AND SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES (Details) bird / WK in Millions, lb in Billions	12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2017 USD ($) employee bird / WK state grower country lb	Dec. 25, 2016 USD ($)	Dec. 27, 2015 USD ($)	Sep. 08, 2017 bird / WK
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Number of countries to which the company exports products | country	100
Number of states in which entity operates | state	14
Number of employees | employee	51,300
Maximum processing capacity, more than (number of birds per week) | bird / WK	45.2
Number of pounds of live chicken processed annually, more than | lb	13.3
Number of contract growers that supply poultry | grower	5,200
Ownership percentage	78.60%
Advertising costs	$ 18,500,000	$ 12,300,000	$ 5,800,000
Research and development costs	3,700,000	3,500,000	$ 4,100,000
Impairment of goodwill	0
Impairment of intangible assets	0	$ 0
Accumulated other comprehensive loss, foreign currency remeasurement adjustment	$ 13,500,000
Non-compete agreement
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Intangible assets, estimated useful life	3 years
Minimum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated closing costs, percent of asset fair value	4.00%
Minimum | Trade names
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Intangible assets, estimated useful life	3 years
Minimum | Non-compete agreement
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Intangible assets, estimated useful life	3 years
Minimum | Customer relationships
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Intangible assets, estimated useful life	5 years
Minimum | Building
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property and equipment, estimated useful life	5 years
Minimum | Machinery and equipment
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property and equipment, estimated useful life	5 years
Minimum | Automobiles and trucks
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property and equipment, estimated useful life	3 years
Maximum
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Estimated closing costs, percent of asset fair value	6.00%
Maximum | Trade names
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Intangible assets, estimated useful life	20 years
Maximum | Non-compete agreement
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Intangible assets, estimated useful life	20 years
Maximum | Customer relationships
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Intangible assets, estimated useful life	16 years
Maximum | Building
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property and equipment, estimated useful life	33 years
Maximum | Machinery and equipment
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property and equipment, estimated useful life	33 years
Maximum | Automobiles and trucks
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Property and equipment, estimated useful life	10 years
Moy Park
Property, Plant and Equipment [Line Items]
Number of employees | employee	10,200
Maximum processing capacity, more than (number of birds per week) | bird / WK				6.0
Percentage of equity acquired				100.00%