Note 4 - Investments in Non-public Companies	12 Months Ended
May 25, 2014
Investment Holdings [Abstract]
Investment Holdings [Text Block]	4. Investments in non-public companies In December 2005, Landec entered into a licensing agreement with Aesthetic Sciences for the exclusive rights to use Landec's Intelimer materials technology for the development of dermal fillers worldwide under the agreement. The Company received shares of preferred stock in exchange for the license with a valuation of $1.8 million. Aesthetic Sciences sold the rights to its Smartfil Injector System on July 16, 2010. Landec has evaluated its investment in Aesthetic Sciences for impairment, utilizing a discounted cash flow analysis under the terms of the purchase agreement. Based on the terms of the sale, the Company determined that its investment was other than temporarily impaired and therefore, recorded an impairment charge of $1.0 million in fiscal year 2010. The Company’s carrying value of its investment in Aesthetic Sciences is $793,000 as of May 25, 2014 and May 26, 2013. No additional impairment has been determined for the Company’s investment in Aesthetic Sciences. On February 15, 2011, Apio entered into a share purchase agreement (the “Windset Purchase Agreement”) with Windset. Pursuant to the Windset Purchase Agreement, Apio purchased 150,000 senior preferred shares for $15 million and 201 common shares for $201 that were issued by Windset (the “Purchased Shares”). The Company’s common shares represent a 20.1% interest in Windset. The non-voting senior preferred shares yield a cash dividend of 7.5% annually. The dividend is payable within 90 days of each anniversary of the execution of the Windset Purchase Agreement, the first three dividend payments of $1.1 million were made in May of 2014, 2013 and 2012. The Windset Purchase Agreement includes a put and call option, which can be exercised on the sixth anniversary of the Windset Purchase Agreement whereby Apio can exercise the put to sell its Purchased Shares to Windset, or Windset can exercise the call to purchase the Purchased Shares from Apio, in either case, at a price equal to 20.1% of the appreciation in the fair market value of Windset from the date of the Company’s investment through the put and call date, plus the purchase price of the Purchased Shares. Under the terms of the arrangement with Windset, the Company is entitled to designate one of five members on the Board of Directors of Windset. In accordance with accounting guidance, the investment in Windset does not qualify for equity method accounting as the investment does not meet the criteria of in-substance common stock due to returns through the annual dividend on the non-voting senior preferred shares that are not available to the common stock holders. As the put and call options require the Purchased Shares to be put or called in equal proportions, the Company has deemed that the investment, in substance, should be treated as a single security for purposes of accounting. The Company has adopted fair value option in the accounting for its investment in Windset effective on the acquisition date. The fair value of the Company’s investment in Windset utilizes significant unobservable inputs in the discounted cash flow models, including projected cash flows, growth rates and the discount rate, and is therefore considered a Level 3 for fair value measurement purposes (see Note 1). The Company believes that reporting its investment at fair value provides its investors with useful information on the performance of the Company’s investment and the anticipated appreciation in value as Windset expands its business. The fair value of the Company’s investment in Windset was determined utilizing the Windset Purchase Agreement’s put/call calculation for value and a discounted cash flow model based on projections developed by Windset, and considers the put and call conversion options. These features impact the duration of the cash flows utilized to derive the estimated fair values of the investment. These two discounted cash flow models’ estimate for fair value, which generally approximate a similar result, is then weighted. Assumptions included in these discounted cash flow models will be evaluated quarterly based on Windset’s actual and projected operating results to determine the change in fair value. During fiscal years 2014, 2013 and 2012, the Company recorded $1.1 million in dividend income and the Company recorded $10.0 million, $8.1 million and $5.8 million of income, respectively, which is included in other income in the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income, from the increase in the fair market value of the Company’s investment in Windset. The Company also entered into an exclusive license agreement with Windset, which was executed in June 2010, prior to contemplation of Apio’s investment in Windset (see Note 5).

Note 4 - Investments in Non-public Companies

12 Months Ended

May 25, 2014

4. Investments in non-public companies

In December 2005, Landec entered into a licensing agreement with Aesthetic Sciences for the exclusive rights to use Landec's Intelimer materials technology for the development of dermal fillers worldwide under the agreement. The Company received shares of preferred stock in exchange for the license with a valuation of $1.8 million. Aesthetic Sciences sold the rights to its Smartfil Injector System on July 16, 2010. Landec has evaluated its investment in Aesthetic Sciences for impairment, utilizing a discounted cash flow analysis under the terms of the purchase agreement. Based on the terms of the sale, the Company determined that its investment was other than temporarily impaired and therefore, recorded an impairment charge of $1.0 million in fiscal year 2010. The Company’s carrying value of its investment in Aesthetic Sciences is $793,000 as of May 25, 2014 and May 26, 2013. No additional impairment has been determined for the Company’s investment in Aesthetic Sciences.

On February 15, 2011, Apio entered into a share purchase agreement (the “Windset Purchase Agreement”) with Windset. Pursuant to the Windset Purchase Agreement, Apio purchased 150,000 senior preferred shares for $15 million and 201 common shares for $201 that were issued by Windset (the “Purchased Shares”). The Company’s common shares represent a 20.1% interest in Windset. The non-voting senior preferred shares yield a cash dividend of 7.5% annually. The dividend is payable within 90 days of each anniversary of the execution of the Windset Purchase Agreement, the first three dividend payments of $1.1 million were made in May of 2014, 2013 and 2012. The Windset Purchase Agreement includes a put and call option, which can be exercised on the sixth anniversary of the Windset Purchase Agreement whereby Apio can exercise the put to sell its Purchased Shares to Windset, or Windset can exercise the call to purchase the Purchased Shares from Apio, in either case, at a price equal to 20.1% of the appreciation in the fair market value of Windset from the date of the Company’s investment through the put and call date, plus the purchase price of the Purchased Shares. Under the terms of the arrangement with Windset, the Company is entitled to designate one of five members on the Board of Directors of Windset.

In accordance with accounting guidance, the investment in Windset does not qualify for equity method accounting as the investment does not meet the criteria of in-substance common stock due to returns through the annual dividend on the non-voting senior preferred shares that are not available to the common stock holders. As the put and call options require the Purchased Shares to be put or called in equal proportions, the Company has deemed that the investment, in substance, should be treated as a single security for purposes of accounting. The Company has adopted fair value option in the accounting for its investment in Windset effective on the acquisition date. The fair value of the Company’s investment in Windset utilizes significant unobservable inputs in the discounted cash flow models, including projected cash flows, growth rates and the discount rate, and is therefore considered a Level 3 for fair value measurement purposes (see Note 1). The Company believes that reporting its investment at fair value provides its investors with useful information on the performance of the Company’s investment and the anticipated appreciation in value as Windset expands its business.

The fair value of the Company’s investment in Windset was determined utilizing the Windset Purchase Agreement’s put/call calculation for value and a discounted cash flow model based on projections developed by Windset, and considers the put and call conversion options. These features impact the duration of the cash flows utilized to derive the estimated fair values of the investment. These two discounted cash flow models’ estimate for fair value, which generally approximate a similar result, is then weighted. Assumptions included in these discounted cash flow models will be evaluated quarterly based on Windset’s actual and projected operating results to determine the change in fair value.

During fiscal years 2014, 2013 and 2012, the Company recorded $1.1 million in dividend income and the Company recorded $10.0 million, $8.1 million and $5.8 million of income, respectively, which is included in other income in the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income, from the increase in the fair market value of the Company’s investment in Windset.

The Company also entered into an exclusive license agreement with Windset, which was executed in June 2010, prior to contemplation of Apio’s investment in Windset (see Note 5).

- Definition

The entire disclosure for investment holdings. This includes the long positions of investments for the entity. It contains investments in affiliated and unaffiliated issuers. The investments include securities and non securities (i.e. commodities and futures contracts).

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