REGULATION AND CONTINGENCIES Fire Insurance Settlement (Details) (Patrick Cudahy, Inc. Fire Insurance Settlement, USD $) In Millions, unless otherwise specified	12 Months Ended	18 Months Ended
May 01, 2011	May 02, 2010	Jan. 30, 2011
Patrick Cudahy, Inc. Fire Insurance Settlement
Unusual or Infrequent Item [Line Items]
Total insurance proceeds	$ 138.0	$ 70.0	$ 208.0
Gain on fire insurance recovery	120.6
Business Interruption Losses, Allocation of Insurance Proceeds	15.8
Insurance proceeds	$ 120.6

The amount of losses incurred from the event causing an interruption of business for which insurance proceeds have been allocated.

No definition available.

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- Definition

Gain (loss) on the involuntary conversion of property, plant and equipment.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

Total cash received upon settlement of an insurance claim during the current period.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

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- Definition

The cash inflow from the amounts received by the insured under the terms of an insurance contract settlement. This element pertains only to insurance proceeds related to investments, for example fixed assets. It excludes insurance settlements classified as operating cash flows.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef

-Publisher FASB

-Name Accounting Standards Codification

-Topic 230

-SubTopic 10

-Section 45

-Paragraph 12

-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=31042434&loc=d3e3179-108585

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