Ingredion Inc. (NYSE:INGR), a leading global provider of ingredient solutions to diversified industries, announced that it has been recognized by the Ethisphere Institute, an independent center of research promoting best practices in corporate ethics and governance, as a 2014 World’s Most Ethical Company®.

This is the first time that Ingredion has been honored with this award, which recognizes organizations that continue to raise the bar on ethical leadership and corporate behavior. Ingredion is one of only five companies in the food and beverage products industry honored this year.

“It is a tremendous honor to be named one of the World’s Most Ethical Companies,” said Ingredion CEO Ilene Gordon. “Every day we strive to live up to the highest standards of ethical business conduct and this recognition confirms that we are succeeding. From our directors and executive leaders to our dedicated employees around the world, I am proud of all who are committed to advancing our long-standing reputation as an ethical company.”

“The entire community of World’s Most Ethical Companies believe that customers, employees, investors and regulators place a high premium on trust and that ethics and good governance are key in earning it,” said Ethisphere’s chief executive officer, Timothy Erblich. “Ingredion joins an exclusive community committed to driving performance through leading business practices. We congratulate everyone at Ingredion for this extraordinary achievement.”

The World's Most Ethical Company assessment is based upon the Ethisphere Institute’s Ethics Quotient™ framework. The Ethics Quotient framework has been developed over years of effort to provide a means to assess an organization’s performance in an objective, consistent and standardized way. The information collected provides a comprehensive sampling of definitive criteria of core competencies, rather than all aspects of corporate governance, risk, sustainability, compliance and ethics. The Ethics Quotient framework and methodology was determined, vetted and refined by the expert advice and insights gleaned from Ethisphere’s network of thought leaders and from the World’s Most Ethical Company Methodology Advisory Panel.

Scores are generated in five key categories: ethics and compliance program (25 percent), reputation, leadership and innovation (20 percent), governance (10 percent), corporate citizenship and responsibility (25 percent) and culture of ethics (20 percent).

The full list of the 2014 World's Most Ethical Companies can be found at ethisphere.com/worlds-most-ethical/wme-honorees.