Abstract: In a method and apparatus for generating colorimetric data useful in the automatic colorimetric sorting of products, such as fruits or vegetables, each product is illuminated by means of a beam producing a succession of lines of light, the energy reflected by the product in preselected wavelengths is reconstituted for each point on each line of light, the light intensity of each point is measured, the measured values are converted so as to form a series of numerical data corresponding, for each wavelength, to the light intensity curves for each line of light, and the series of numerical data are processed, by computing, in accordance with programmed criteria based on a comparison of the values of the homologous points of said series, so as to generate usable colorimetric data.