Vava Lapota ordered that 18 buckets of salted beef be confiscated because it was unlabelled and may have expired.
He also told Kaniva Tonga that the buckets the meat was in were dirty.
But the website reports that the owners secured approval from the Food Division in Nuku'alofa to sell the meat.
Mr Lapota said there has been a series of long-running disputes and complaints over the sale of expired meat and controversial food products in Vava'u.
