Moisture
Bacteria like any other living creatures require water to live and reproduce. Hence, all cleaning surfaces and utensils must be dried. High concentrations of sugar prevent bacteria from accessing any available water hence foods such as jam and honey are referred as preserves. Consider dried pasta and cooked pasta, former has very little water content do not encourage bacterial growth as water is not available to bacteria. However, cooked pasta has significant amount of water content and need to be refrigerated to prevent bacterial multiplication.