Caesar salad dressing contains raw eggs, but fear of salmonella poisoning has forced many restaurants to use an inferior tasting bottled dressing in their Caesar salads. Davidson from Food Tech, a company that develops preservatives and food additives, has developed a process for pasteurizing eggs on a large-scale basis. The pasteurization of eggs is a complicated process that took years to perfect. Food Tech will be called a(n) as it resolved this issue ahead of the rest of the marketplace.

- Lead user.

Explanation:

'Lead user' is the term coined by Eric von Hippel to describe the advanced users or the users who adapt a problem quite competently.

In the given example, Food Tech would be characterized as a 'lead user' as it displays an 'intensive and early adaptation' to the difficulty. It identifies the customer problem i.e. 'fear of salmonella poisoning compelled restaurants for using inferior tasting bottled dressing' and develops their product concept accordingly i.e. 'preservatives and food additives, has developed a process for pasteurizing eggs on a large-scale basis' to counter this difficulty in a limited time period.