DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS AND BASIS OF PRESENTATION - Additional Information (Details) grower in Thousands, bird / WK in Millions, lb in Billions	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2019 employee bird / WK state grower country lb
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Number of countries in which entity exports products \| country	100
Number of states in which entity operates \| state	14
Number of employees \| employee	52,100
Maximum processing capacity of employees per week (in birds per week) \| bird / WK	45.3
Maximum annual processing capacity of employees (in pounds) (more than) \| lb	13.0
Number of contract growers \| grower	5
Percentage of beneficial ownership by holding company	78.40%

Number of persons employed by the Entity

No definition available.

Name:	dei_EntityNumberOfEmployees
Namespace Prefix:	dei_
Data Type:	xbrli:decimalItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

Maximum number of birds produced in a week by the employees as per processing capacity of the entity.

No definition available.

Name:	ppc_MaximumProcessingCapacityOfEmployeesPerWeek
Namespace Prefix:	ppc_
Data Type:	xbrli:decimalItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

Represents the minimum capacity in pounds of birds annually processed by the employees of entity.

No definition available.

Name:	ppc_MinimumAnnualProcessingCapacityOfEmployees
Namespace Prefix:	ppc_
Data Type:	num:massItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

Represents the number of contract growers who supply poultry for the operations.

No definition available.

Name:	ppc_NumberOfContractGrowers
Namespace Prefix:	ppc_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

The number of countries the entity exports products as of the balance sheet date.

No definition available.

Name:	ppc_NumberOfCountriesInWhichEntityExportsProducts
Namespace Prefix:	ppc_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

Percentage of beneficial ownership by holding company.

No definition available.

Name:	ppc_PercentageOfBeneficialOwnershipByHoldingCompany
Namespace Prefix:	ppc_
Data Type:	num:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

The number of states the entity operates in as of the balance sheet date.

No definition available.

Name:	us-gaap_NumberOfStatesInWhichEntityOperates
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:integerItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

No definition available.

Name:	us-gaap_OrganizationConsolidationAndPresentationOfFinancialStatementsAbstract
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration