The federal government has confirmed an investigation is under way to determine whether a sample of live anthrax bacteria was mistakenly shipped to Australia from an American military lab in 2008.

The Department of Defence confirmed it was advised by the US embassy on Friday that a sample of certified inactivated anthrax provided to the department's Defence Science and Technology Organisation for research purposes in 2008 may have contained some live spores.

US authorities have discovered part of a batch of anthrax was sent to Australia in 2008.

The organisation maintains a research capability to analyse materials relevant to chemical and biological warfare agents. It imported the samples for research aimed at protecting defence personnel and the Australian community against their potential use, a spokesperson for the department said.

"Some of the samples from the 2008 shipment were used for studies to develop assay materials to detect anthrax. The work was conducted in late 2008 and 2009."