Debt and Financing Arrangements 2 (Details)	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended																															3 Months Ended			12 Months Ended								12 Months Ended				3 Months Ended
	Oct. 28, 2009 USD ($)	Apr. 29, 2012 USD ($)	Apr. 27, 2011 USD ($)	Apr. 28, 2010 USD ($)	Jul. 27, 2011 Credit Agreement 1.2 Billion [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 29, 2012 Credit agreement 1.5 Billion [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 30, 2011 Credit Agreement 500 Million [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 29, 2012 Long-term Commercial Paper [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 27, 2011 Long-term Commercial Paper [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 29, 2012 Foreign Lines of Credit [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 29, 2012 1.50% U.S. Dollar Notes due March 2017 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 27, 2011 1.50% U.S. Dollar Notes due March 2017 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 29, 2012 2.85% U.S. Dollar Notes Due March 2022 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 27, 2011 2.85% U.S. Dollar Notes Due March 2022 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 29, 2012 2.00% U.S. Dollar Notes due September 2016 [Member] USD ($)	Oct. 26, 2011 2.00% U.S. Dollar Notes due September 2016 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 27, 2011 2.00% U.S. Dollar Notes due September 2016 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 29, 2012 3.125% U.S. Dollar Notes due September 2021 [Member] USD ($)	Oct. 26, 2011 3.125% U.S. Dollar Notes due September 2021 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 27, 2011 3.125% U.S. Dollar Notes due September 2021 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 29, 2012 6.00% U.S. Dollar Notes due March 2012 [Member] USD ($)	Mar. 15, 2012 6.00% U.S. Dollar Notes due March 2012 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 27, 2011 6.00% U.S. Dollar Notes due March 2012 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 29, 2012 U.S. Dollar Private Placement Notes due May 2014 — May 2021 [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 27, 2011 U.S. Dollar Private Placement Notes due May 2014 — May 2021 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 27, 2011 U.S. Dollar Private Placement Notes due May 2014 — May 2021 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 29, 2012 US Dollar Private Placement Notes Due July 2016 To July 2018 [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 27, 2011 US Dollar Private Placement Notes Due July 2016 To July 2018 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 27, 2011 US Dollar Private Placement Notes Due July 2016 To July 2018 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 29, 2012 6.625% U.S. Dollar Notes due July 2011 [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 15, 2011 6.625% U.S. Dollar Notes due July 2011 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 27, 2011 6.625% U.S. Dollar Notes due July 2011 [Member] USD ($)	Jan. 26, 2011 Japanese Yen Credit Agreement due December 2013 [Member] JPY (¥)	Apr. 29, 2012 Japanese Yen Credit Agreement due December 2013 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 27, 2011 Japanese Yen Credit Agreement due December 2013 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 28, 2010 7.125% U.S. Dollar Notes due August 2039 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 29, 2012 7.125% U.S. Dollar Notes due August 2039 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 27, 2011 7.125% U.S. Dollar Notes due August 2039 [Member] USD ($)	Oct. 28, 2009 7.125% U.S. Dollar Notes due August 2039 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 29, 2012 U.S. Dollar Remarketable Securities due December 2020 [Member] USD ($)	Jan. 25, 2012 U.S. Dollar Remarketable Securities due December 2020 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 27, 2011 U.S. Dollar Remarketable Securities due December 2020 [Member] USD ($)	Oct. 28, 2009 U.S. Dollar Remarketable Securities due December 2020 [Member]	Apr. 29, 2012 8.0% Heinz Finance Preferred Stock due July 2013 [Member] USD ($)	Apr. 27, 2011 8.0% Heinz Finance Preferred Stock due July 2013 [Member] USD ($)	Jan. 26, 2011 Swap [Member] Japanese Yen Credit Agreement due December 2013 [Member] USD ($)	Jan. 25, 2012 Interest Rate Swap [Member] U.S. Dollar Remarketable Securities due December 2020 [Member] USD ($)	Jul. 27, 2011 Debt Instrument, Maturity Period, Three Years [Member] U.S. Dollar Private Placement Notes due May 2014 — May 2021 [Member]	Jul. 27, 2011 Debt Instrument, Maturity Period, Five Years [Member] U.S. Dollar Private Placement Notes due May 2014 — May 2021 [Member]	Jul. 27, 2011 Debt Instrument, Maturity Period, Five Years [Member] US Dollar Private Placement Notes Due July 2016 To July 2018 [Member]	Jul. 27, 2011 Debt Instrument, Maturity Period, Seven Years [Member] U.S. Dollar Private Placement Notes due May 2014 — May 2021 [Member]	Jul. 27, 2011 Debt Instrument, Maturity Period, Seven Years [Member] US Dollar Private Placement Notes Due July 2016 To July 2018 [Member]	Jul. 27, 2011 Debt Instrument, Maturity Period, Ten Years [Member] U.S. Dollar Private Placement Notes due May 2014 — May 2021 [Member]
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Short-term Debt		$ 46,460,000	$ 87,800,000
Short-term Debt, Weighted Average Interest Rate		5.10%	3.40%
Line of Credit Facility, Maximum Borrowing Capacity					1,200,000,000	1,500,000,000	500,000,000			500,000,000
Long-term Debt		4,851,785,000	4,374,717,000					0	0		299,556,000	0	299,516,000	0	299,913,000		0	395,268,000		0	0		599,631,000	500,000,000		0	100,000,000		0	0		749,982,000		199,327,000	194,742,000		626,747,000	625,569,000		119,000,000		119,000,000		350,000,000	350,000,000
Debt Instrument, Face Amount											300,000,000		300,000,000			300,000,000			400,000,000			600,000,000			500,000,000			100,000,000			750,000,000		16,000,000,000			681,000,000			681,000,000		119,000,000
Interest rate on notes issued											1.50%		2.85%		2.00%	2.00%		3.125%	3.125%		6.00%									6.625%							7.125%		7.125%		6.049%		15.59%
Long-term Debt, Weighted Average Interest Rate																									3.48%			3.38%
Debt Instrument, Maturity Period																																	3 years			30 years												3 years	5 years	5 years	7 years	7 years	10 years
Derivative, Amount of Hedged Item																																														193,200,000
Derivative, Fixed Interest Rate																																														2.66%
Cash paid in exchange of outstanding dealer remarketable securities	217,500,000			217,500,000
Amount Of Dealer Remarketable Securities Exchanged	681,000,000			681,000,000
Cash Payments To Terminate Remarketing Option	89,000,000
Notional Of Total Rate Of Return Terminated	175,000,000
Notional Amount of Interest Rate Derivative Instruments Not Designated as Hedging Instruments																																															119,000,000
Debt Instrument, Purchase Price Of Principal Amount, Percent																																									100.00%
Mandatorily Redeemable Preferred Stock Shares Issued																																												3,500
Preferred Stock, Dividend Rate, Percentage																																												8.00%
Preferred stock, dividend per share		$ 1.70	$ 1.70																																									$ 8,000
Preferred Stock, Redemption Price Per Share																																												$ 100,000
Preferred Stock total redemption price																																												350,000,000
Long-term Debt, Maturities, Repayments of Principal in Next Twelve Months		200,200,000
Long-term Debt, Maturities, Repayments of Principal in Year Two		1,093,900,000
Long-term Debt, Maturities, Repayments of Principal in Year Three		60,300,000
Long-term Debt, Maturities, Repayments of Principal in Year Four		5,300,000
Long-term Debt, Maturities, Repayments of Principal in Year Five		734,100,000
Securitization Program Term (in years)				3 years
Amount Of Accounts Receivable Securitization Program				175,000,000
Receivables derecognized Under Receivable Securitization Program		161,800,000	29,000,000
Increase (Decrease) in Accounts Receivable from Securitization		132,800,000	(55,200,000)
Fair value of deferred purchase price		56,800,000	173,900,000
Increase (Decrease) in Interests Continued to be Held by Transferor, Current		$ 117,100,000	$ (84,700,000)