GENERAL - Additional Information (Details) bird in Thousands, lb in Millions	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 29, 2020 employee grower country state bird 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
Chicken
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Number of employees	53,300
Consolidation, Less than Wholly Owned Subsidiary, Parent Ownership Interest, Effects of Changes, Net [Line Items]
Maximum processing capacity of employees per week (in birds per week) | bird	44,900
Maximum annual processing capacity of employees (in pounds) (more than) | lb	13,000.0
Number of contract growers | grower	4,800
Number of employees	53,300
Pork
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]
Number of employees	5,300
Consolidation, Less than Wholly Owned Subsidiary, Parent Ownership Interest, Effects of Changes, Net [Line Items]
Maximum processing capacity of employees per week (in birds per week) | bird	43
Maximum annual processing capacity of employees (in pounds) (more than) | lb	413.1
Number of contract growers | grower	290
Number of employees	5,300
JBS SA
Consolidation, Less than Wholly Owned Subsidiary, Parent Ownership Interest, Effects of Changes, Net [Line Items]
Percentage of beneficial ownership by holding company	78.80%