**4. Conclusions**

The present research study showed that proper modulation of the baking temperature, as well as partial replacement of the ammonium bicarbonate in the recipe with a more suitable leavening agent, are the physical and chemical factors that can be jointly applied to mitigate the formation of acrylamide in biscuits. The steam release during the central baking phase favorably affected the thickness and water content, parameters critically linked to consumers' acceptability of the biscuits.

With the best combination of the factors explored, an 87.2% average reduction in acrylamide content was achieved compared with the reference sample, which was produced in the laboratory to mimic the industrial biscuit.

The significant correlations of the acrylamide content with the *aw* and CIELab color indices are compelling, as variables of this type could easily be evaluated by means of an optical sensor placed on the production line to exploit the properties of NIR spectroscopy and determine the color CIELab parameters by reflectance. Furthermore, the possibility of gathering a larger database of data could likely lead to highlighting other relevant relationships between color indices and acrylamide content.

Finally, this work lays the foundations for further in-depth investigations, where different mitigation techniques could be combined with those of the present study with the goal of lowering the acrylamide content in other types of food products.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, P.F and G.M.; methodology, P.F., G.M., E.L.F. and T.S.; formal analysis, E.L.F. and T.S.; investigation, E.L.F. and T.S.; data curation, G.M., E.L.F. and T.S.; writing—original draft preparation, G.M., E.L.F. and T.S.; writing—review and editing, P.F., G.M. and E.L.F.; supervision, P.F. and G.M., funding acquisition, P.F. and G.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was partially funded by the "Fondo di Ateneo per la Ricerca 2020—the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (FAR Impulso 2015, grant number CUP: E42F20000170001)" titled: 'Design of flour and bakery products with functional properties and strategies for the mitigation of process contaminants'.

**Institutional Review Board Statement:** Not applicable.

**Informed Consent Statement:** Not applicable.

**Data Availability Statement:** The data are available from the corresponding author.

**Acknowledgments:** We would like to acknowledge Francesco Fallucchi, Pasquale Nitti, and the English-language reviewing work done by Sara Ronconi and Juliana Miller. Moreover, we thank the Bank Foundation "Cassa di Risparmio di Modena" for the LC−MS instrument (Agilent Technologies) used in the Laboratory of Mass Spectrometry at CIGS of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, as well as Diego Pinetti and Filippo Genovese for their advice and valuable support.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

#### **References**

