California retailers may be liable for large money awards if they falsely advertise that their products are on sale.

By now it is almost gospel that investing in innovative new products and services helps a company's long-term success. That doesn't mean it's easy. A new study from Accenture, "Why 'Low Risk' Innovation Is Costly," found that fewer than one in five chief executives believes his strategic investments in innovation are paying off, and that this poor track record is starting to discourage companies from taking risks.

Seasonally adjusted sales at U.S. electronics and appliance stores were $8.215bn in April 2013, up from $8.180 in April 2012 and up from $8.152 in March 2013.

What if you weren't just delivering meat to stores for sale but doing something more disruptive - like selling 40-pound packages of raw meat out of the back of refrigerated trucks? What kind of bureaucratic fat would you have to cut through then?

BASF, Dow, DuPont, Honeywell and the rest of the American Chemistry Council's member companies have pledged to implement 11 industry best practices to evaluate and improve their product safety performance.

Some retailers are doing what was once unthinkable, handing over information about exactly how, and where, their products were made.

And you thought Europeans had problems with their horse meat scandals. In China, consumers have to worry about getting served rat meat for dinner.