We adopted our Code of Ethics to govern our daily work.

The management of ‘Patatas Meléndez’ has approved the company’s Code of Ethics, which sets out the rules, principles and values that the company voluntarily assumes in the performance of its activity and in its relationship with suppliers, customers and end consumers.

According to the company’s CEO, Javier Meléndez, this Code represents the submission of our activity to the set of ethical values that underpin society. “It is about expressing and officially recording the set of values and principles that we already have in practice and that are present in our day-to-day actions. Having a Code of Ethics means that we intend to promote actions at all levels that will enable us to comply strictly with the law, adopting all the necessary mechanisms”.

This Code of Ethics, to which all Meléndez employees subscribe, implies that each person will use their good judgement to carry out their work correctly and that if they have any doubts they should ask for advice.

The mission of ‘Patatas Meléndez’, as established in its Code of Ethics, is to become the benchmark company in Europe in the supply of potatoes grown at source with the best quality, using the best agricultural practices and respecting the environment. To this end, as it has been doing in practice, it is committed to the development of sustainable cultivation, preserving the best practices that care for the fields and obtain the best quality potatoes at source, while respecting and protecting nature.

Precisely, the Code of Ethics establishes that Meléndez must have the most professional of all the company’s social interactions with farmers. “Farmers are the first link in the value chain, they are a key element in building our image and the basis of the work carried out by Patatas Meléndez”, as stated in the Code. The company is committed, as it has been doing, to maintaining relations with the farmers, as well as with other companies.

stable and long-lasting relationships with producers and thus generate mutual benefit. The criteria that will govern the relationship with farmers are: quality, profitability, service and/or strategic for the company and food safety.

For Patatas Meléndez, attention to the integrity of its workers is a fundamental pillar of its management. Along these lines, the Code of Ethics establishes a series of measures aimed at having a good physical environment, good personal relations, good organisation, emotional health and promoting the family and social wellbeing of the entire workforce.

Regarding the relationship with clients, Meléndez’s Code of Ethics establishes that maximum professionalism, confidentiality and objectivity must govern. “Commercial relations with clients will be free from favouritism, bribery or corruption and will be marked by a high degree of trust based on objectivity and transparency”, the document states.

The Code of Ethics also establishes that the principles governing relations with suppliers shall be objectivity and neutrality, avoiding favouritism.

Respect for the rural environment and the surroundings in which it is based is a priority for Patatas Meléndez. Proof of this is that the leading fresh potato company has recently signed up to the United Nations Global Compact by which it is committed to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals. Along these lines, the Code of Ethics introduces various actions aimed at this objective. The water footprint will be analysed each year, thus detecting opportunities for improvement to reduce it. Appropriate management of waste and by-products will be carried out in order to recycle or recover as much as possible; employment in rural areas and local farming will be promoted in order to reduce the carbon footprint; and 100% green energy will be used, encouraging self-consumption and the use of sustainable vehicles.