Notes Payable, Long-Term Debt, Commitments and Contingencies (USD $)	0 Months Ended	3 Months Ended		12 Months Ended					3 Months Ended
	Sep. 19, 2012 item	Mar. 30, 2013	Mar. 31, 2012	Dec. 31, 2012	Mar. 30, 2013 Notes payable to bank	Mar. 30, 2013 Committed bank line	Feb. 20, 2013 Committed bank line	Mar. 30, 2013 Uncommitted bank lines	Mar. 30, 2013 IDRBs	Dec. 31, 2012 IDRBs
Notes Payable, Long-Term Debt, Commitments and Contingencies
Number of search warrants executed authorizing the seizure of certain records from Seaboard's offices in Merriam, Kansas and at the Seaboard Foods employment office and the human resources department in Guymon, Oklahoma.	3
Number of civil or criminal proceedings or charges filed	0
Debt Instrument
Current maturities of long-term debt									$ 10,800,000	$ 13,000,000
Maximum capacity							200,000,000
Minimum net worth base requirement after debt refinancing				1,870,445,000
Percentage of consolidated net income added to net worth base amount after debt refinancing				25.00%
Base amount used to calculate maximum dividend allowed after debt refinancing				25,000,000
Sum of subsidiary indebtedness and priority indebtedness as a percentage of consolidated tangible net worth after debt refinancing, maximum				20.00%
Payments of long-term debt		13,131,000	112,000						13,000,000
Letters of credit outstanding						39,960,000		3,744,000
Letters of credit for outstanding Industrial Development Revenue Bonds									18,397,000
Letters of credit related to various insurance coverage					$ 21,801,000