In a media release issued by the University of Prince Edward Island, Enactus-PEI co-presidents Maggie McNeil and Samuel Harding described the Spuds2Suds project as the result of “three months of brainstorming.”

While student brainstorming and project development are entirely appropriate within an academic setting, presenting the initiative in this way without reference to prior documented commercialization of potato-based soap in 2016 in the materials reviewed may have contributed to a public impression that the underlying concept originated with the student team.

When considered alongside subsequent media coverage characterizing the product as novel or first-of-its-kind, the absence of reference to earlier local production may have contributed to uncertainty regarding how the project’s originality was understood in public-facing communications.

The issue is therefore not whether brainstorming occurred, but whether acknowledgement of prior publicly documented work would have provided additional context in describing the project’s development.

Earlier production of potato-based soap on Prince Edward Island was documented in CBC News coverage titled “P.E.I. Potato Soap could be International Hit, Island craftsman hopes,” published June 14, 2016, which provides public documentation of similar product commercialization prior to the 2025 student initiative.