A coalition of cattle producers and consumer advocates has accused the United States of exporting beef to Australia despite a ban due to bovine spongiform encephalopathy, or mad cow disease.

US Department of Agriculture figures show that beef - including live cattle, carcasses, whole cuts and processed meat - has been exported to Australia throughout the ban, which began in 2003 after an outbreak of mad cow disease in the US.

''I nearly fell off my chair when I saw all this [beef] coming in to Australia,'' said John Carter, of the Australian Beef Association, an independent lobby group.

Mr Carter took the information to a Senate inquiry into foreign beef imports and was later told by the Department of Agriculture that the figures were a ''mistake''.

''[The US government] just happens to have been making mistakes on three websites every month for the past 10 years.''