CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, U.S. — Ethisphere, a company focused on defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices, announced its 2020 World’s Most Ethical Companies list.

The recognition honors companies that take the long view with a purpose-based strategy and strive to create positive change throughout their global communities.

Ethisphere recognized 132 companies in 2020 and the honorees span 21 countries and 51 industries and includes 14 first time-honorees and seven companies that have been named to the list every year since its inception.

The Food, Beverage & Agriculture industry category includes Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM), Grupo Bimbo, illy, Ingredion, Kellogg and PepsiCo.

Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, U.S., ADM connects crops to markets on six continents. ADM focuses on human and animal nutrition and agricultural origination and processing.

“Each day, our world-class team of 40,000 works to enrich the quality of life for people the world over, and it’s absolutely paramount that every aspect of that work follows the highest standards of honesty and integrity at all times,” said Juan Luciano, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO). “We are extremely proud to be recognized for our company-wide commitment to ethical business practices, transparency and corporate citizenship.”

Ingredion is a global ingredient solutions provider serving customers in more than 120 countries. With annual net sales of more than $6 billion, the company turns grains, fruits, vegetables and other plant-based materials into value-added ingredient solutions for the food, beverage, animal nutrition, brewing and industrial markets.

Ingredion has been recognized for seven consecutive years and is one of only six honorees in the food, beverage and agriculture industry.

“This recognition reflects our commitment to operating with the highest ethical standards across all areas of our business in the communities where we do business,” said Jams P. Zallie, president and CEO of Ingredion. “It is an honor to be recognized for our values-based leadership and ethical business practices for seven consecutive years. This supports our purpose-driven culture of bringing the potential of people, nature and technology together to make life better.”

Grounded in Ethisphere’s proprietary Ethics Quotient, the World’s Most Ethical Companies assessment process includes more than 200 questions on culture, environmental and social practices, ethics and compliance activities, governance, diversity and initiatives to support a strong value chain. The process serves as an operating framework to capture and codify the leading practices of organizations across industries and around the globe. Best practices and insights from the 2020 honorees will be released in a report and webcast in March and April of this year.

All companies that participate in the assessment process receive an Analytical Scorecard providing them a holistic assessment of where their programs stand against the demanding standards of leading companies.