Translations:Het detecteren bij podiumkunstenorganisaties van films en bijhorende magneetbanden die zijn aangetast door het azijnsyndroom/4/en

Vinegar syndrome is a deterioration process that can affect films, magnetic tapes and photographic negatives/slides with an acetate base. The decay is autocatalytic, which means that deterioration starts slowly (because there is still only a small amount of the acid that causes it), but quickly accelerates as the chemical reaction continues. The autocatalytic point is the moment when the reaction starts to accelerate exponentially. The base layer of the acetate film or magnetic tape acidifies, which emits an vinegar-like odour and the material becomes brittle and starts to shrink. High temperatures and a fluctuating but relatively high level of humidity in the storage environment speed this process up further. Films, magnetic tapes and photographic negatives/slides are mostly already in an advanced state of deterioration when the vinegar-like odour can be detected. The deterioration process starts much earlier, and can only be detected with e.g. A-D strips (see below) in its early stages.