The bactericidal efficacy of three common sanitizers (100 or 200 ppm of sodium hypochlorite, 100or 200 ppm of n-alkyl(C12-C18)benzyldimethyl chloride, and 50 or 100 ppm of peroxyacetic acid) against Escherichia coli ATCC 10536 and Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 6538 was studied using the suspension test method at various exposure temperatures (4~40℃) and times(1~60min) under both dirty and clean conditions, respectively. During the suspension tests, sodium hypochlorite (200 ppm) showed higher bactericidal activity than the other sanitizers under clean conditions, with 5 log reductions against E. coli as well as S. aureus in the first 1 min of treatments at 4℃. However,the efficacy of sodium hypochlorite decreased markedly under dirty conditions due to its susceptibility to interfering substances. The efficacy of the n-alkyl(C12-C18)benzyldimethyl chloride increased considerable as the exposure temperature and time increased. The bactericidal efficacy of the n-alkyl(C12-C18)benzyldimethyl chloride might be less effective on low temperature, however, the longer time the sanitizer is in contact, the more effective the sanitization effect. Treatment with peroxyacetic acid (100 ppm) showed at least 5 log reduction against E. coli and S. aureus for 5min at 4℃ under both clean and dirty conditions. The efficacy of the peroxyacetic acid was not much altered by interfering substances and affected by changes in temperature or time.