NEW YORK >> Walmart wants a bigger slice of the crowded meal kits business, announcing Monday that it will offer easy-to-make dinners in more stores this year.

The move puts the world’s largest retailer in direct competition with meal-kit companies such as Blue Apron and HelloFresh, which deliver boxes of raw meat and chopped vegetables to subscribers’ doorsteps. After Walmart’s announcement Monday, Blue Apron’s stock tumbled 5 percent.

Walmart said its meal kits, which will expand from 250 stores to more than 2,000, will be available in its deli section or can be ordered online and picked up later that day. It is offering three types of kits: pre-portioned meals that need to be cooked; ingredients that pair with its rotisserie chicken; or one-step dishes that just need to be heated up. The meals feed two people and are priced between $8 and $15.

Several companies already offer meal kits, both online and in stores. Amazon, which bought grocer Whole Foods last year, sells meal kits on its site and at its recently opened convenience store in Seattle. Albertsons Cos., owner of Safeway, Carrs and other supermarkets, bought online meal-kit service Plated last year to sell the kits at its 2,300 stores.

Blue Apron Holdings Inc., meanwhile, has struggled since it became a publicly traded company in June; it recently said it lost 15 percent of its customers last year compared with the year before. Its shares are down 74 percent since its initial public offering price of $10.

Walmart Inc., based in Bentonville, Ark., said its meal kits will be made in stores. Its dishes will include meatloaf, spaghetti and meatballs, and chicken fried rice.

Judge delves into Roundup cancer claims

SAN FRANCISCO >> A federal judge Monday waded into the arcane science behind claims that the widely used weedkiller Roundup can cause cancer. The expected weeklong testimony is intended to help him determine whether a jury should hear from doctors who link the product to non-­Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria heard from an epidemiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, about how she evaluated scientific studies of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup, to arrive at her conclusion that it can cause cancer. “After reviewing all of the scientific literature at hand, I really concluded that to a reasonable scientific degree of certainty, glyphosate and glyphosate-based compounds, including Roundup, do indeed cause NHL,” the epidemiologist, Beate Ritz, said.

Many regulators have rejected a link between Roundup and cancer. Monsanto vehemently denies it, saying hundreds of studies have found glyphosate is safe. Monsanto will call its own experts later in the week to defend glyphosate.

ON THE MOVE

Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki Beach Resort has named Jay Yada its new restaurant manager for Bali Steak & Seafood. He has more than 20 years’ experience in the hospitality and food service industry, including having served as manager of Tommy Bahama Restaurant & Bar in Waikiki. Prior to that, Yada was floor captain for Mortons the Steakhouse in Honolulu.

The Friends of the Waikiki Aquarium has named Keane Akao its new executive director. He has 18 years of nonprofit experience, including having served as an interim executive director of Camp Mokuleia, a 40-acre conference and retreat center on Oahu. Akao is former executive director of the Episcopal Church of West Oahu as well as founding partner of Perfectly Planned Hawaii and Consider It Done Hawaii.

Pearlridge Center has announced David Cianelli as its new general manager, overseeing management and operations of the 1.3 million-square-foot center. He has more than 20 years of experience in property management, leasing and commercial development in California and Hawaii. Cianelli recently served as a senior general manager at Otay Ranch Town Center in Chula Vista as well as the associate general manager at Ala Moana Center.