Pie is a good example: fruit pie tends to keep for a good while at room temperature. I have found many sites which stridently claim this not to be the case, and many grocery stores that leave their bakery pies at room temp for about three days (even psycho Mrs. Cookwell says 2 days is fine). I'm siding with the grocery stores. Nut pies tend to last longer still, because they're drier: the presence of dairy and eggs is counteracted by the higher concentration of sugar.
Likewise cake, though it can vary depending on your frosting...The more things besides fat and sugar in your frosting, the more it needs to be refrigerated. In most cases cake will stay edible longer than you'd want to eat it. Again, grocery stores only bother to refrigerate decorated cakes, or ones with cream cheese icing.
Most store bought condiments are fine at room temperature. Obviously not mayonnaise, or anything creamy, but ketchup, mustard, A-1, worstershire...They last a good long time unrefrigerated. Likewise soy sauce, fish sauce, and some of the more popular asian condiments.
I've never seen a pepper sauce (e.g. Tabasco) that needs refrigeration, and they'll last for years, though the color starts going off after a while.
There is no bacterial risk to leaving fruits and vegetables out, but this will dramatically increase the rate of spoilage. The exceptions are root vegetables, and bananas. Root vegetables will last a long time in a cool dark place, so just lump 'em in your garage if you're not going to eat them in the next week or two. And bananas will go south at the same rate regardless (though you can freeze them for future banana bread).
Fresh eggs (like, straight from the chicken) will last a couple of weeks without refrigeration (make sure they're not fertilized, or you may wake up to find baby chickens in your kitchen). The rule of thumb is "Every day unrefrigerated is like 5 days refrigerated." Once eggs are cracked, you should use them immediately.
I'd trust store bought eggs left out on the counter to eat, though its not good to let refrigerated eggs get warm again. Eggs have a wide array of natural antimicrobial tendencies, though the processing store bought eggs go through removes some of this. (citation). An easy way to test for internal contamination is to see if the egg floats in water. If it floats, toss it.
Bacon grease keeps a long time unrefrigerated, as does any sort of fat really, as long as it's strained and filtered. With fats you're more worried about them going rancid, which is a function of light and air (its a type of oxidation), so store your fat in a dark place, in a sealed container. (citation)
Butter can last several days unrefrigerated (it should be covered). I'd say as much as a week, but I have no way of knowing because it never lasts that long. It's much more likely to oxidize (see above) and go rancid than to pick up a significant bacterial colony.
Best Answer
I will put this as an answer as I might be too long winded for a comment.
The US, and most places have agencies that set food and food handling standards. I will not get into if those standards are the best, right, too high or low, ect., only state that those standards are when the agencies have deemed qualify as safe. I will also not comment on how well those standards are followed and enforced, only that they are in place, and should in general be followed. There purpose is to assure the public that what they eat and what they use to prepare food meets a reasonable health standard. If, in my opinion, one does not assume that items made within that country and imported by reputable sources into that country do not adhere to those standards, then you will simply worry yourself needlessly over everything.
On this specific question, kitchen towels/paper towels/paper rolls, etc. are specifically manufactured for kitchen and general household use. They should therefore be manufactured to food grade standards. Should you simply eat one? Well no, but it is not going to hurt you if you do. It is paper and a bit of dye. As intended for kitchen use, the dye is food grade, not fabric dye or such. Is bleach used to make it, yes, more than likely since bleach is a common item used to make such paper, but there is not deemed to be enough residual to be a health risk, and certainly not enough to be a contact risk from draining of blotting food. That does not mean it is recommended to start shredding them up and use them as a food supplement. It means that board review says causal contact with food is OK.
That does not mean that any paper or cleaning towel is OK to use. If it has been treated with cleaning or polishing solutions, like disinfection wet towels, those are not for direct contact with food. It is not their purpose, and yes, they might very well make you sick.
Is plastic safe? Well, it depends on the plastic. If it is food grade, then yes, as long as it is used reasonably and as intended. Take a thin zip lock bag and super heat it, well, that is not how it was intended to be used, and you may well have broken its integrity. Use it to store a piece of fruit in the refrigerator for a day and it is fine. Go to the hardware store and get a plastic bucket to mix something in? NO. That is not food grade plastic.