for example by comparing data accumulated by and downloaded from the electronic device s 122 associated with the package 102 and or the time the package 102 was received at the destination location 106 with data stored in the database 118 to ensure that such measurements fall within acceptable parameters advantageously some or all of the data received from the authentication appliance 110 or from elsewhere may also be stored in the database 118 for further authentication or tracking purposes for example it may be useful to access such data in the future to identify the ultimate destinations of the various components of a particular lot of a product known to potentially contain a particular defect indeed one step in the authentication process employed by the authentication computer 112 may be to verify that no other packages 102 from the lot in which that package originated have been recalled for any purpose or discovered to have been compromised in any way one simple way that the pedigree of a package 102 can be evaluated is by associating one or more unique identifiers with the package 102 before the package 102 leaves the source location 104 and communicating the identity of those unique identifier s from the warehouse management system 108 to the database 118 of the authentication computer 112 when the package 102 reaches the destination location the authentication computer 112 may then confirm that the received package 102 is authentic by verifying that the unique identifier s associated with the package 102 when it is received correspond with the unique identifier s stored in the database 118 the authentication computer 112 may also verify that the package 102 has not been placed on a recall list has not been flagged as having been stolen.