The heat removed when cooling a product from 20 °C to 2 °C is sensible heat: the temperature falls and the product stays solid or liquid. Its amount depends on three things: mass, temperature difference and the product’s specific heat. For water-rich foods the specific heat above the freezing point is around 3.5–4 kJ/kg·K; in the frozen state it drops to about half.
In a cold room calculation the sensible part of the product load is found as: daily incoming product (kg) × specific heat × (entry temperature − room temperature). Bringing 2,000 kg of apples from 25 °C to 1 °C takes about 2,000 × 3.65 × 24 = 175,000 kJ ≈ 49 kWh. This heat must be removed from the room by the evaporator.
Air has sensible heat too: lowering the temperature of warm air entering the room is sensible load, while condensing the moisture it carries is latent load. On humid summer days the latent load of air coming through the door can exceed its sensible load. The distinction between sensible and latent heat also matters in evaporator selection: a low "sensible heat ratio" is preferred in rooms meant to dehumidify, a high one in fruit and vegetable rooms where humidity must be preserved.