Share-Based Compensation - Additional Information (Detail) (USD $) In Millions, except Share data, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Dec. 29, 2012	Dec. 29, 2012 2009 Plan	Dec. 29, 2012 Stock Option	Dec. 31, 2011 Stock Option	Jan. 01, 2011 Stock Option	Dec. 29, 2012 Performance Share	Dec. 31, 2011 Performance Share	Jan. 01, 2011 Performance Share	Dec. 29, 2012 Restricted Stock Awards and Restricted Stock Units	Dec. 29, 2012 Restricted Stock	Dec. 31, 2011 Restricted Stock	Jan. 01, 2010 Restricted Stock	Dec. 29, 2012 Restricted Stock Unit	Dec. 31, 2011 Restricted Stock Unit	Jan. 01, 2010 Restricted Stock Unit
Share-based Compensation Arrangement by Share-based Payment Award [Line Items]
Number of shares authorized for share awards	13,000,000
Stock awards, description			The non-qualified stock options were time-based and expire 10 years from the grant date, three months after employee termination, one year after the date of an employees’ retirement or death, if earlier, or March 31, 2014, in the case of: (1) a category of employees who a change of control agreement and whose employment with Dole will be terminating as a result of the sale transaction; and (2) a category of employees whose employment is continuing ITOCHU or one of the acquired entities in the sale transaction, and who have accepted such continuing employment in writing with a release to Dole pursuant to the Acquisition Agreement. In addition, the stock options vest over a three year period, with shares becoming exercisable in equal annual installments of 33.3 percent.						The restricted stock awards and restricted stock units are time-based and either vest at the end of a one-year period, vest over a three-year period in equal annual installments of 33.3 percent, or vest at the end of the three-year period.
Stock option vesting period			3 years
Stock option vesting percentage per year			33.30%
Common stock available for future issuance		7,340,046
Unrecognized compensation expense for stock options	$ 4.8
Weighted average fair value of stock options granted				$ 4.02	$ 4.33		$ 14.45	$ 0.00			$ 9.11	$ 9.74		$ 9.14	$ 9.74
Stock options granted during period			0
Unrecognized compensation expense for other than options						2.4				2.9			0.6
Fair value of restricted awards										$ 6.0	$ 0.9	$ 0.9	$ 0.4
Percentage of award to the shares granted that award recipient can receive upon achievement of the performance metric						200.00%