Following the April 2025 regional Enactus competition, media coverage described a UPEI student project led by Maggie McNeil and Samuel Harding involving soap made from unharvested potatoes. In some reports, headlines referred to the product as the “first soap made from discarded potatoes.”
Those early reports did not reference prior local commercialization of potato-based soap in 2016.
An editor’s note was later added to university materials acknowledging earlier potato-based soap production on Prince Edward Island. (AFTER THE FACT)
Editor’s Note (added February 2026): "We have since become aware that potato based soap production has previously been developed and commercialized on Prince Edward Island, including by The Island Potato Soap Company. We recognize the entrepreneurial groundwork laid by Island founders who have pioneered innovative uses of local agricultural products."
The concern raised is not about student participation in sustainability initiatives. Rather, it relates to how public communications may shape perceptions of novelty when prior documented production exists.
