Highland Council’s environmental health team seized the van full of meat and dairy products after a tip-off from Police Scotland.
The 280-mile trip from Newcastle to Inverness would have taken more than five hours.
The distributor reportedly planned to sell the meat in the Highlands, Aberdeenshire and Moray.
The council said it highlighted the “lengths that some food businesses are willing to go to for the purposes of making money” without regard for food safety.